Every Hero has a Story
by StaindRedGlass
Summary: STORY 25: A single act of bravery in Iraq sets off an unexpected chain of events centering around a possible Silver Star recipient. What unfolds turns out to be deeper than anyone imagined. And the truth reveals a single lie.
1. Chapter 1

Here's the 25th story in my series. If you haven't read the other stories, then I advise you to not proceed until you do. This is a series. It runs in sequence. To understand certain things (especially where Jamie came from), it's best to just start at the beginning. This series is kind of like my very own NCIS season 4. As of this point, the series consists of: story 1 = A Link to the Past (comes in 3 parts)… story 2 = Wrong Place, Wrong Time… story 3 = Second Job… story 4 = Daughters… story 5 = A Personal Vendetta… story 6 = Bless the Children… story 7 = Eyes of the Condemned… story 8 = Disturbing Affection… story 9 = No Man Left Behind (story that introduces Chioke; aka Kid)… story 10 = Finger Swap… story 11 = Imperfect Heist… story 12 = The Color of Skin… story 13 = Death to the Jedi… story 14 = Brotherly Love… story 15 = For the Love of a Child… story 16 = Devil's Playground… story 17 = Forced Alliance… story 18 = Firing up the Screws… story 19 = Close to Home (story that introduces Julianna)… story 20 = Last Place on Earth… story 21 = The Two of Me… story 22 = Saw… story 23 = Rise of Apocalypse… story 24 = Injected… story 25 = Every Hero has a Story (current story). Hope you enjoy it.

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***Thursday into Friday***

***Chapter 1***

Nearing the early evening inside the Green Zone in Iraq, a squad of Marines are preparing for a high priority extraction of a valuable target. The mission is to go deep inside the Red Zone, capture the target and get out as quietly as possible.

The squad, which consists of six Marines, locks and loads their weapons in preparation. The use of deadly force in this mission is only if absolutely necessary.

After the preparation of both weapons, disguises and the last minute briefing, the squad walks to the vehicle that will be used for their operation.

"You got to be kidding me?!" Corporal Eckman laughed at their ride.

"It may not be ideal…" Sergeant Walker begins to say.

"It's a hunk of junk." Corporal Eckman stated.

"That it may be. But we want to get in and out undetected." Sergeant Walker stated. "It's best if we blend in." They approach the vehicle. He turns around to face his squad and looks into their loyal eyes. "This is what we do boys."

"Ooh-rah!" The men give their spirited cry common to the Marine Corps.

They all enter into the Iraqi vehicle.

The vehicle moves out of the Marine compound and heads in the direction of the Red Zone. Eventually, they reach a point of needing to be on high alert.

"Yo Eckman, when you going to hook me up with your sister?" Corporal Lawrence wondered.

"I would. But my sister has a problem with dating someone she can easily beat up." Eckman commented.

"Oh! You got burned!" Corporal Baker laughed.

"We're at the Zero Point." Sergeant Walker stated in reference to the predetermined point of needing to be quiet. "Be on alert."

Silence befalls the vehicle.

As day becomes night, the vehicle crosses into the Red Zone. They take the route that their earlier reconnaissance exposed as the path of least resistance. The route may take longer, but it's the route with the highest percentage for mission success.

Once the Marines are deep inside the Red Zone, an Iraqi man starts wheeling a cart out into the middle of the street, blocking their path.

"Ah, what's this?" Corporal Davidson wondered as he eases up on the gas pedal and applies the brakes to slow the vehicle down.

"Go around him." Corporal Henderson said from the passenger seat.

"I can't. There's no room."

The Iraqi man stops pushing the cart as soon as the path is completely blocked. He draws an AK47 from the cart. Two more Iraqi insurgents pop out of windows of buildings on either side of the vehicle and begin to fire upon it. They drove into an ambush.

Bullets penetrate into the vehicle.

One of the Marines opens the door and tries to fire back, but is quickly shot three times and falls to the ground.

After unloading their clips into the vehicle, the two insurgents inside the buildings leave their post to go downstairs. The one insurgent in the street approaches the driver's side and pokes his head and weapon into the vehicle. Sergeant Walker grabs the weapon and shoves a knife into the insurgent's throat, disabling him from being able to yell. Then he pulls the insurgent inside the vehicle with all his strength.

The two insurgents exit from their buildings and cautiously approach the vehicle as their ambush partner is nowhere to be seen. They call for him but get no response.

One of the vehicle doors opens. The wounded Sergeant Walker slides out and fires his pistol with an attached silencer at the nearby insurgent. Five shots quickly neutralizes the threat before he himself lands on the ground.

Sergeant Walker rolls under the vehicle to the other side. He watches as the feet of the Iraqi steps closer to the vehicle in order to look inside. Walker extends his pistol to the insurgent's foot at a downward angle toward the street.

Walker pulls the trigger. A bullet pushes through the weapon, out the silencer and penetrates through the foot of the remaining threat. The insurgent falls to the ground where Walker places his hand over the man's mouth and shoves a knife into his chest.

With realizing the knife did not penetrate into the body, Walker quickly thrusts the knife downward into the base of the neck. The Sergeant takes his hand off the insurgent's mouth and pulls his shirt down slightly. What's exposed is a bullet-proof, stab-proof vest; someone wanted this ambush to not fail because it was carefully planned out.

Walker cautiously approaches the other insurgent lying on the ground on the other side of the vehicle. There's a pool of blood. Of the five shots taken; three were stopped by the vest. It was the other two bullets that killed him; one in the abdomen and one at the base of the neck where the vest does not protect.

With all three insurgents dead and the vehicle riddled with bullet holes, Sergeant Walker opens one of the doors. He grabs the communications radio.

"This is Sergeant Travis Walker…" He said. "I need an immediate evac. My unit was…"

Walker stops mid-sentence as he notices a bullet hole in the radio, rendering it useless.

"Ugh…" Corporal Eckman cried softly. "Travis..."

"I'm here." Walker takes the Marine's hand.

"When my parents died, I swore to take care of my sister." Eckman begins coughing blood. "I basically became her father because I'm the only family she had. She's twenty now. She can take care of herself. But… Agh…"

"Don't try to talk." He can tell Eckman is in a lot of pain.

"There's a letter in my pocket." Eckman said as he stops Walker from trying to help since there's nothing he can do. "Make sure she gets it." He added. "Semper fi…"

Eckman's eyes close and his head falls. At the death of Eckman, Walker reaches into the Corporal's pocket and takes the letter.

The only surviving member of the squad is now all alone behind enemy lines with no means of acquiring assistance or an evac. And someone obviously wanted the squad to fail. No one was meant to survive. The only question, who and why?

As a couple Iraqis walk in the direction of the incident, Walker takes anything he can carry and runs in the opposite direction.

The Iraqis approach the vehicle and begin dragging the dead Marines out into the street. Walker watches as the Iraqis take the boots, gloves and whatever else they want, even the dead bodies.

At the sight of his dead companions being pillaged with no regard of honor or decency, Walker remembers the code; leave no man behind. He knows if he allows the Iraqis to take the bodies than their families will never have their sons or in Eckman's case, a brother to bury.

Sergeant Walker detaches the silencer from his pistol. He runs out and fires the weapon just to scare the pillaging Iraqis away. They scatter quickly from the area.

One by one Walker carries the five dead Marines to a semi-safe location not too far away.

After setting the final Marine down inside a vacant building, he goes back to the vehicle. Walker places the three dead Iraqi insurgents inside the vehicle in the hopes it'll provide enough confusion to other insurgents so they don't start looking for US soldiers. Lastly, he unloads everything he can carry that would be considered to be evidence to US soldiers being in the area.

Walker enters into the vacant building where his dead companions lie. He tosses a bunch of stuff into the cellar of the building. The only thing he keeps out is a couple weapons and a medical supply kit. Walker uses the medical supply kit to close the wounds of his dead companions.

In the dark of night, Sergeant Walker leaves the building on a reconnaissance mission. The mission no longer entails acquiring the high priority target. That operation crumbled at the first bullet fired at their vehicle. The current mission is to get each of the dead Marines out of enemy territory.

He returns to the vacant building and hoists Eckman's dead body onto his shoulders. Walker leaves the building carrying Eckman through the back alleys to the next safe location.

As Walker makes his way through a back alley, an armed insurgent steps out from a door yelling at the person who is still inside. Walker steps into the darkness to hopefully remain hidden until the dispute settles itself. But if necessary, his pistol is cocked and ready and fire.

After a couple minutes, the insurgent goes back inside and closes the door.

Walker hoists Eckman onto his shoulders once again and keeps moving.

Eventually, he makes it to their first of many destinations. Walker gently sets Eckman's body down in the safe location. He leaves and makes his way back to the original vacant building in order to get the next Marine.

All through the night, Sergeant Walker carries each of his five dead companions to safe locations in an effort to get them out of the enemy territory. Along the way, he neutralizes several Iraqi insurgents who jeopardize the objective.

Two hours before dawn, a group of Iraqi insurgents are doing a routine sweep. One of them finds the stuff Walker stashed in the cellar of the vacant building. A broadcast goes out alerting all insurgents of US soldiers in the area; a broadcast that US communications intercept.

As an Iraqi insurgent search begins, a couple squads of Marines quickly prepare for an emergency extraction. Unmanned reconnaissance planes immediately launch on the US side. Every resource available is to be used to find the Marines before the insurgents do.

A dozen heavily armed Humvees race out the gate of the Marine compound.

Sergeant Walker realizes the insurgents are on to him as there's a lot of activity in the area. He knows the odds of getting out alive are even slimmer than before. Pressing forward and fighting is the only option because he's not leaving his men behind. A Marine isn't beaten or defeated until he draws his last breath. And Walker is still breathing.

At this point, the edge of the Red Zone is not too far away since he's been doing this all night long without any breaks.

Walker eventually carries one body to a safe location outside of the Red Zone. He re-enters into the Red Zone to get the next Marine in which he does the same thing.

As Walker is carrying the last dead Marine, a group of insurgents start shooting at him. He drops the body of the Marine and ducks for cover inside a nearby house. With being so close to escaping the Red Zone, all hope seems lost as his position has been compromised. Walker shoots back since he's determined to not go down without a fight.

One of the unmanned reconnaissance planes flies overhead; giving the US a bird's eye view of the area. The heavy amount of activity in the area and large amount of insurgents closing in is interpreted as being the location of the Marines.

The Humvees race toward the area where the firefight is occurring. Once in view, the 50 Caliber guns on top of the Humvees begin to fire. The heavy fire is concentrated into the crowd of armed insurgents.

For the time being, the Marines do not have authorization to enter into the Red Zone which is currently on high alert. The Humvees line up in the neutral territory and provide heavy fire support.

Sergeant Walker exits from the house. He runs to the dead Marine he left in the street and hoists the body onto his shoulders.

An Iraqi insurgent exits onto the roof of the tallest building while carrying a large case. He sets the case down and opens it. Inside is a rocket launcher which he loads with an RPG.

While Walker is making his way toward the line of Marine Humvees, the insurgent on the rooftop aims the weapon.

"RPG!" One of the Marines yelled. "Northwest rooftop!"

One of the 50 Caliber guns quickly aims at the rooftop and fires. But the RPG launches.

The RPG races through the air, smacks the ground near Walker and blows up. Walker and the dead Marine fly into the air.

"Marine down!" Sergeant Jacobs yelled into his communications radio. "Requesting immediate authorization to enter into the Red Zone." He said in hopes to get the clearance.

"Request denied. You are not clear to enter into the Red Zone at this time." The person said.

The gravely injured Sergeant Walker is lying on the ground in immense pain with burns, shrapnel in his body and blood gushing from several major injuries. But the Marine doesn't allow the pain to stop him. Injured or not, he has a mission to complete.

Walker gets up and staggers his way to the dead Marine before falling down. The line of Humvees keeps up the fire support but it's ultimately up to Sergeant Walker in the end.

The Marines watch as the Sergeant hoists the body of the dead Marine onto his shoulders. As they continue to provide fire support, they watch almost helplessly as the Sergeant stumbles to the ground after a couple steps.

"Ahh!" Walker cries in pain as he pushes himself up.

The Sergeant's determination to not leave a dead Marine behind gives him the strength to try again. He hoists the dead Marine onto his shoulders and continues walking.

A bullet hits Walker. Then a second later, another one hits him. He falls to the ground.

Sergeant Jacobs sits there watching helplessly as he waits for the official word to enter into the Red Zone.

"Come on, come on…" Sergeant Jacobs muttered to himself.

"You have been granted authorization to enter into the Red Zone." The person said. "I repeat, you have authorization."

"Echo 1, Echo 2, we have clearance." Sergeant Jacobs broadcasts to his Marines. "Move in, move in!"

With the official authorization granted, the Marines are finally able to enter into the Red Zone to extract the Sergeant.

Two Humvees race in and stop behind the Sergeant, creating a barricade to safely extract him and the body of the dead Marine. Two Marines from each Humvee exit from the vehicles and grab Walker and the dead Marine. After getting Walker and the dead Marine safely into the Humvees, the vehicles race away.

"I have four dead Marines in the two-story building to the Southeast." Walker stated as a medic is working on stabilizing him. Then he passes out from the pain and blood loss.

One of the Marines relays the Intel to Sergeant Jacobs who sends two Humvees to the location.

With all the objectives acquired, the Humvees race away from the Red Zone. And Sergeant Walker's mission is bravely completed as no fallen Marine is left behind.


	2. Chapter 2

***Almost two and a half weeks later***

***Monday***

***Chapter 2***

At the DiNozzo residence, which is right next door to Gibbs' house, Tony wakes up due to being poked. A large yawn escapes from his mouth as he opens his eyes to seeing Chioke standing next to the bed.

'Time to get up.' Chioke signed with his hands.

"I don't know why I bother with an alarm clock." Tony said at the sight of the alarm clock on the night stand. "You're always awake before it goes off."

'I your alarm clock.' Chioke signed happily. 'Buzz!'

Tony chuckles slightly at the cuteness of the child.

"You're an alarm clock I don't mind being woken up by every morning." Tony said. He sits up on the bed and turns the alarm off so he doesn't disturb his wife Jamie later. "Go feed your pets while I take a shower. Then I'll make us some breakfast."

'Okay.' He turns and looks to the floor. 'Come Mufasa. I feed you.'

Tony smiles and shakes his head as he watches the skunk follow the boy out of the room. He still cannot believe he allowed Chioke to have a pet skunk, but is amazed at the animal's loyalty.

Chioke gives Mufasa food, clean water and cleans his litter box while Tony is taking a shower. As Mufasa is eating, the boy walks into the kitchen to get something from the refrigerator for another pet. He re-enters into the living room which is the pet den and approaches the lobster tank. A screech echoes in the room as he pushes the step stool closer. After climbing the step stool, he opens the lid and tosses the food into the water for Simba. The food sinks to the bottom for the lobster. Then he moves the step stool to the iguana tank where Timon and Pumbaa reside. He opens the lid and tosses a couple pre-cut fruits and vegetables inside.

Tony walks down the stairs while Chioke sits and watches his pets eat their food. Every morning is the same thing with the boy taking care of his responsibilities. He's always good that way. How responsible Chioke is, is one of the many things about him that amazes Tony.

Things were certainly different for the young boy back in Nigeria. Life was simpler, yet harder and tragic. The thought of how the boy came to be in his custody crosses his mind. It always saddens Tony when he thinks about it. Yet, the boy brings so much joy into his life.

"Time for breakfast." Tony said.

He and the boy walk into the kitchen. Tony makes oatmeal.

After breakfast, Tony walks to the front door because he needs to leave early this morning.

"Oh sure, fine…" Jamie said as she walks down the staircase. "Leave without saying goodbye or giving me a kiss."

"Goodbye." Tony turns around to say. He walks in Jamie's direction in order to give her a kiss.

"I don't accept pity kisses." Jamie said as she shoves her hand in her husband's face. He licks her hand. "Eewww." She pulls her hand back in disgust.

Jamie screams playful as Tony tackles her to the stairs and tries to kiss her. They struggle as she tries to block her husband's attempts to kiss her. After a minute of struggling with each other, Tony finally kisses her.

"I win!" Tony exclaimed as he jumps up.

"Pfftt, I let you win." Jamie said as he helps her up. "Oh, before I forget. The neighbor came over yesterday. Your new National Geographic magazine was accidentally put in her mailbox." She grabs the magazine from a nearby table and hands it to her husband.

"Great. I'll take a look at this at work. When I have a break that is… But with your dad I don't get many breaks, if any at all." Tony said. "You'll need to take Chioke to school today because I really have to go."

"No problem." Jamie said. "Have a good day, babe. See you at work."

"Love you." He kisses her again; she doesn't resist.

"I love you too."

As Tony opens the front door, Chioke runs out from the kitchen in order to sign goodbye and give him a hug. The young boy immediately stops with a look of fear on his face which Tony doesn't see due to exiting from the house. But Jamie notices. And the front door closes.

For Chioke the picture on the front cover of the National Geographic magazine replays the most horrifying event in his mind. The room morphs into the setting of his Nigerian village back when he was four-years-old. From the shelter of the rubble of a collapsed structure, the boy watches his mother run out to grab the gun she dropped. A couple armed men pop out of nowhere and begin shooting at each other.

"Run Chioke! Run!" The woman yelled seconds before being hit in the crossfire and dropping to the ground.

"Chioke...?" Jamie wondered what's wrong since the boy looks spooked.

Chioke begins to wet himself.

"It's alright. Come here." Jamie embraces him.

Tony arrives at NCIS, parks his car and quickly makes his way into the building. He exits onto the third floor.

"Is he here yet?" Tony asked.

"No." Ziva answered.

"Good." He said cheerfully.

Tony approaches his desk, puts his things down and withdraws a couple supplies on the bottom drawer.

"It's his first day back." Ziva stated. "Go easy on him."

"Going easy on him would be no fun." Tony said as he approaches McGee's desk.

Tony begins to unscrew a couple screws from McGee's chair. Ziva rolls her eyes and continues reading her book.

A couple minutes pass.

The door to the elevator opens. McGee steps out. He walks to the bullpen where Tony and Ziva are sitting at their desks.

"Good morning, Ziva." McGee greeted her.

"Good morning, McGee." Ziva greeted him. "Welcome back."

"It's good to be back." He said. Then he turns and looks at Tony. "Morning, Tony."

"Morning, Probie." Tony greeted him but didn't even bother looking up from behind his computer monitor.

The behavior seems slightly suspicious to McGee. But he brushes it off and walks to his desk.

"You know, I was beginning to think you might have…" McGee begins to say as he sits down in his chair and it breaks. He lands on the floor. "…owww."

"At least I had the decency to make sure you fell on your right side instead of the left." Tony stated in reference to knowing McGee still has a problem with his left shoulder.

McGee gets up, pushes the chair parts to the side and wheels a new chair over to his desk. He sits down. As McGee opens the top drawer, a couple jump-out snakes fly in every direction.

"Geez!" It startles McGee as he pulls back.

"Welcome back, Probie." Tony stated with a big grin stretched across his face.

"You have anymore practical jokes prepared?"

"Nah, that was it. Didn't want to overwhelm you on your first day ba…"

"Tony!" McGee exclaimed as he lifts his hands into the air with a keyboard stuck to his fingers.

"Oh yeah, that's right… I guess I put glue on your keyboard too."

Tony walks out of the bullpen because he needs to run a file down to the legal department.

"It's good to be back." McGee muttered to himself. He then looks to Ziva. "Little help."

After Ziva gets McGee's fingers free from the keyboard, he immediately goes to Tony's desk. The wonderment of what McGee is doing intrigues Ziva.

"I'm just adding a little sound." McGee said with a smile as he downloads something to Tony's computer.

"I don't even want to know." Ziva said. She sits down and continues reading her book, even though she really does want to know.

Upon finishing, McGee notices the National Geographic magazine lying on the desk. On the front cover is a picture of a boy hiding among the rubble of a collapsed structure and a woman lying dead on the ground not too far away. The picture was obviously taken at an elevated angle like a hilltop or even a couple story tall building.

"Nigeria: Among the tragedy, not all hope is lost." He reads the title of the featured article. "Sounds interesting."

At around the start of the working hour, Gibbs steps off the elevator. He enters into the bullpen holding a cup of coffee. With seeing his daughter approaching from the back entrance to the bullpen, he quickly places the coffee cup onto Ziva's desk and continues walking to his own.

"Morning Daddy." Jamie kisses her father on the cheek.

"Good morning." Gibbs said back. Then he kisses her on the forehead.

"Nice try with the coffee." Jamie said. She walks to Ziva's desk and takes the coffee cup. "You were given a strict diet to abide by for the next two weeks. And coffee is a no-no. After almost dying last week, you should be home resting anyway."

"But then you wouldn't be able to keep an eye on me."

"True." Jamie agreed. "Just take it easy. We don't want your stitches breaking." She turns to her husband who is just returning from running his errand. She places the coffee cup on his desk. "Dispose of this for me. Keep an eye on him. And we need to talk later, okay. Something odd happened with Chioke this morning."

"Is he alright?" Tony asked in concern.

"He's fine. Something spooked him this morning when you were leaving."

Jamie walks away in order to go upstairs to the Director's office to drop off a file.

With his daughter gone, Gibbs approaches Tony's desk as he's dumping a packet of sugar into the coffee.

"That's my coffee." Gibbs stated in a firm tone of voice.

"Not anymore…" He notices the expression on Gibbs' face. Tony tosses the coffee into the trash can because adding sugar isn't going to make a difference when Gibbs hasn't had a coffee in days. "This is going to be a long two weeks."

"You owe me a coffee, DiNozzo."

"I'll get you one in two weeks." He notices Gibbs glaring at him. "Weeks sound so long. It's really not as long as it sounds though." There's no change in Gibbs' glaring. "I'll give you a coffee in fourteen days?" The glaring doesn't change. "Three hundred and thirty-six hours?" There's still no change. "I really have no idea how many minutes it is. If you give me time I can do the math."

"Twenty thousand, one hundred and sixty minutes." Ziva said.

"Or one million, two hundred and nine thousand, and six hundred seconds." McGee added.

"Does one million some odd seconds work better for you?" Tony wondered.

"No." Gibbs replied. "I want my coffee."

"I thought not." Tony sighed as Gibbs walks to his desk. "This is going to be a long day and a long two weeks."

Tony presses a button on the keyboard in order to do an internet search. Sexual noises begin to play from the speakers. Gibbs stands up from behind his desk at hearing the inappropriateness coming from Tony's computer.

"This isn't mine." Tony defended himself. He tries to turn the program off but it won't close. As the sexual noises continue to play, he turns the volume knob down but the volume remains the same.

"Get the porn off your computer, DiNozzo." Gibbs stated.

"It's really not what you think. I wanted to do a simple search and this program thing popped up."

Tony continues trying to stop the program. Gibbs approaches and rips the speaker wire out of the computer; silencing the inappropriateness.

"That works too." Tony said as the wire flops down onto his desk.

"Next time you want to get DiNozzo back, don't use something as inappropriate as that, McGee." Gibbs said as he walks back to his desk.

"Sorry Boss." McGee apologized. "Won't happen again." He added. "And I know how you feel about apologies. I haven't forgotten. Sign of weakness."

"Why you little…" Tony begins a threat with finally coming out of his state of shock but stops mid-sentence. "Good one, McSneaky. Now get over here and get this program off my computer."

After dropping off the file at the Director's office, Jamie races down the back stairs and swiftly races to the elevator. At first, everyone wonders what the big hurry is about. Then they all go back to what they are doing.

Tony sits back and grabs the National Geographic magazine as McGee is working getting the program off the computer. He looks at the front cover for a couple seconds before opening the magazine and going to the featured article. Tony flips through the pages looking at the pictures first.

The pictures are of a family trying to escape their village from a firefight between two rival warlords. Due to the angle of the photos, he's unaware that what he's looking at is Chioke's family being picked off one by one as they try to get away.

After paying close attention to the pictures of a boy among the rubble of a collapsed structure with a dead woman not too far away, he begins to think. It seems so familiar to what Chioke communicated to him a while back.

"This can't be…" Tony muttered to himself. He flips the page and sees the next picture. It's of the boy standing in a shallow creek and a man a couple feet away pointing a gun at him. In the next picture, the boy is lying in the creek bleeding from a gunshot wound to the neck. Tony's emotions almost consume him as he tries to hold back the tears because he knows the boy in the pictures is definitely Chioke. "I have to go."

Tony runs to the elevator. As Tony enters into the elevator, a man using a crutch hobbles out from it. The man slowly hobbles in the direction of the bullpen where Gibbs' team resides.

The sight of the obviously injured person entering into the bullpen makes Ziva and McGee wonder about him. He approaches Gibbs' desk as the elevator door opens again.

"I'm Sergeant Travis Walker, US Marine Corps." Travis stated.

"I heard what you did in Iraq." Gibbs said. "Also heard you've been nominated for a Silver Star for what you did."

"You need to come with us, Mr. Walker." FBI Agent Tobias Fornell stated upon entering into the bullpen. Two other FBI agents follow him.

"Sergeant Walker, do not say another word." A PR representative for the Secretary of the Navy said. "This man committed no crime. He's a hero for God's sake."

"He helped murder fourteen people before going to Iraq." Fornell said.

"Allegedly." The PR representative said.

"Whoa, hold on!" Gibbs yelled as he stands up faster than he should; the pain quickly subsides. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Since we heard about Mr. Walker's heroism in Iraq, the FBI took a second look at a multiple murder investigation." Fornell said. "We originally thought Travis' twin brother Randy committed the crime on his own. But we found new evidence that also implements Travis."

"The evidence is circumstantial." The PR representative stated. "Sergeant Walker's mother can verify that Travis gave the St. Jude necklace to his brother Randy weeks before the incident."

"That doesn't surprise me." Fornell said. "Travis is the only son she has left. Of course she'll say anything in order to protect him!"

The PR representative looks at Gibbs.

"The SecNav cannot give a Silver Star to someone who is the suspect in a murder investigation." The PR representative stated. "This needs to be sorted out by Wednesday afternoon or Travis' name will be dropped as a Silver Star recipient."

Gibbs looks at Travis in order to get a feel for the man. But it's difficult to read the body language of a man as badly wounded as him and who can hardly stand, even with a crutch. He knows it'll be a tough sorting this out but Gibbs accepts it because what Travis did in Iraq is a true sign of a hero, not a murderer.


	3. Chapter 3

***Chapter 3***

Gibbs knows they must work quickly since they only have until Wednesday afternoon to give the SecNav an answer. Sergeant Walker's brave action in Iraq has given closure to the families of the five dead Marines by giving them their sons or brother to bury. A single man, all alone and out numbered, became a hero. Yet, this hero is being treated like a suspect by the FBI. Until the matter is resolved, Sergeant Walker's Silver Star is on the line, as well as his freedom.

"Take a seat Sergeant." Gibbs motions for Walker to sit down on his chair. "You look like you're going to collapse." The Sergeant hobbles around the desk and sits down. Gibbs looks at Fornell.

"Usual conference room?" Fornell wondered.

"Oh yeah."

Gibbs and Fornell walk to the elevator. Once they enter into the elevator and the door closes, Gibbs flips the emergency stop switch.

"You should be home resting, Jethro." Fornell stated. "You almost died last week."

"Let me get your coffee, Tobias." Gibbs said.

"I don't think so." Fornell responded. "Jamie heard I was coming. She met me in the lobby…"

"And told you to make sure I don't drink coffee."

"Your daughter is much scarier than you. I'd rather piss you off than to piss her off." Fornell stated. "Jamie's only looking out for you. She just wants you to be healthy."

"The diet sucks." Gibbs said. "No coffee, no bourbon, no…" He takes out a pack of gum.

"No gum either." Fornell said as he grabs the pack of gum out of Gibbs' hand. "Jamie gave me a list of what you can and cannot have." He shows him the paper. "She's very concerned that you stick to it for the next two weeks."

"Tell me about the multiple murder investigation."

"Randy Walker, Travis' twin brother, got mixed up with the wrong crowd roughly five years ago." Fornell begins feeding Gibbs the Intel. "Petty crimes; trespassing, vandalism, destruction of private property, breaking and entering, that sort of stuff. The gang escalated two years ago into robbery, extortion, aggravated assault, attempted murder…" He continued. "By that point, Randy was in too deep. He wanted out. But the gang wouldn't let him. Seven months ago, Randy entered into the warehouse and slaughtered them all; fourteen gangbangers in total. He probably thought it was the only way to get out. Randy also died in the warehouse that night. Sustained a serious wound and bled out." He added. "Travis doesn't have a record. He's always been a pillar of the community. So we never had any reason to believe Travis was involved."

"Until now…"

"Yes, until now." Fornell said. "Travis pulled off the impossible in Iraq two and a half weeks ago. It got us thinking." He continued. "We took another look at the case. There are subtleties to the crime that do suggest someone of a certain degree of combat training. Randy only made it through two weeks of basic training before quitting. When we revisited the crime scene, we found a St. Jude necklace. The necklace belongs to Travis. It was given to him by their father eight years ago when he died of cancer. But that necklace places Travis at the scene. The two of them committed this crime together." He added. "The mother says Travis was home that night, but I think he snuck out to help his brother and returned before police arrived."

"It's definitely thin and circumstantial."

"Travis is involved. I know it."

"Let's get some coffee and go talk to the mother."

"Coffee, no. Talk to the mother, yes." Fornell said. "Oh by the way… The BAU would like for you to contact them. They've been trying to contact you but you've been ignoring them." He added. "I was asked to give you this…" He hands a business card to Gibbs.

"Aaron Hotchner." Gibbs reads the name on the card. "What do profilers want from me anyway?"

"I know the BAU is currently studying Apocalypse. I also know Apocalypse has not said a word since being captured for the second time. Hell, he never said word after being captured the first time." Fornell said. "My guess is they want you to talk to him."

"I doubt Apocalypse will talk to me after I betrayed him."

"You're the only person he actually responds to."

"That's because I appealed to a greater goal for him when I was undercover in the Last Place on Earth. It's a good thing too… He was about to kill me with a stove." Gibbs stated. "I played into his persona, his fantasy, delusion, whatever you want to call it."

"I'm sure his Apocalypse persona was crushed after how you and your team taunted him."

"Send your people back to the Hoover building. Sergeant Walker isn't a flight risk, nor is he any risk at all." Gibbs stated. "The man can hardly stand, even with a crutch."

"We'll back off a bit only if you help the BAU."

"Deal." He extends his hand to Fornell; they shake on the deal.

Gibbs flips the emergency stop switch to get the elevator moving again. They exit onto the third floor.

"I can tell this is not going to be fun working with a coffeeless Gibbs." Fornell stated in an irritated manner.

"And you think I enjoy your company?" Gibbs said sarcastically in order to put on their usual show for everyone. "I'd rather hang out with Kimmy Gibbler, Urkel or Screech."

"And the bossman makes a TV reference." Tony said with a smile as Gibbs and Fornell re-enter into the bullpen. "I see I'm rubbing off on you."

"Yeah, like a tick off a blade of grass."

"Hey!" Tony resented the remark. "I'm not a tick."

Everyone else looks to toward them in wonderment of what the next move is.

"Take a hike." Fornell motions for his two agents to leave; they comply.

"Sergeant Walker…" Gibbs tries to get his attention.

"Yes Sir?" Travis stumbles slightly as he stands up from the chair.

"Come with us." Gibbs motions for him to come with them. "You need some rest. We're taking you home while we sort this out."

"My people will bring the case file and all the evidence over within the hour." Fornell stated.

"While we're waiting for those to arrive, I want both of you to go over Sergeant Walker's records." Gibbs ordered of Ziva and McGee. Then he looks directly at the Sergeant. "I want to know everything about him. If he sneezed in 5th grade math class, I want to know."

"Is that really necessary?" Travis wondered.

"Oh yeah." Gibbs said. "Come on, let's go…"

The two of them walk to the elevator with Sergeant Walker trailing behind with his crutch. As they wait for the elevator door to open, they watch the Sergeant; a man who looks like he's going to collapse if he takes another step.

McGee uses the computer to pull up Sergeant Walker's service record. While McGee is working, an instant message pops up. It's a message from Jamie to check out a link. He clicks on the link which opens an animated welcome back greeting that her and Abby created together. The message puts a smile on his face as he appreciates it. He's glad to be back. This is where he belongs.


	4. Chapter 4

***Chapter 4***

Tony parks the car at the local University where Chioke's special school is located. Once inside the school and through security, he approaches the classroom. Tony peeks through the window of the door. A smile stretches across his face as his son looks like he's having fun participating in the classroom activity.

His cell-phone rings.

Inside the classroom, Chioke recognizes the tone of the ring. He eagerly looks at the door for Tony but doesn't see him.

'May I go to bathroom?' Chioke signed with his hands to the teacher.

"Yes you may." The teacher said while signing at the same time.

Chioke quickly gets up, takes the bathroom pass and walks to the door. He exits from the classroom only to find an empty hallway; no Tony. Even though he feels a slight sadness by not seeing Tony, he doesn't give up. The boy looks eagerly around as he's sure it was the ring tone to Tony's phone.

As Chioke rounds a corner, he sees Tony walking in the direction of the entrance. The sight of his father is exciting to the boy; the sight of Tony always makes him happy. There's no way he can allow Tony to leave without a hug; especially since he didn't get to hug him before him leaving the house in the morning.

The hallway is long, Chioke's legs are short and Tony is near the front office just a couple feet from exiting the building. The boy knows he cannot reach Tony in time so he does the only thing he can do; make a lot of voiceless noise. Chioke runs in Tony's direction while banging on every locker along the way.

The amount of noise causes Tony to wonder what's going on. He turns around to see and chuckles at Chioke's effort to get his attention. Watching Chioke run toward him causes the thought of the National Geographic pictures to pop into his head. Tony knows the chaos of that day is still fresh in the mind of the boy, even after almost three years. He lost everything that day; home, family, everything he ever knew. Tony tries to hold the saddening thoughts at bay in order to be strong for the boy.

Tony crouches down as Chioke approaches. The boy quickly wraps his arms around Tony and rests his head on his shoulder.

"I love you, Chioke." Tony said. He then kisses the boy's head and just holds him.

One of the most important things to Tony is for Chioke to know he's loved because the boy is extremely important to him. He cannot imagine life without the boy. Chioke is his son and Tony his is father. They need each other. The love between them is unconditional, like a father and son should be.

A car pulls up the Walker residence. The three men, Gibbs, Fornell and Travis exit from the vehicle on the quiet little street. The mother opens the front door as they approach because she's been waiting for her son to return home.

"Agent Fornell... Don't you have better things to do than to harass my boy?" Mrs. Walker said. "And who is this?"

"Special Agent Gibbs, NCIS." Gibbs flashes his credentials.

"Ma, they're just here to ask you a couple questions." Travis stated as he hobbles unto the porch. "They're just doing their job."

"You should be resting, Travis. You shouldn't have even left the house this morning." Mrs. Walker said in concern for her son's well-being. She looks to the agents. "My boy is a hero."

"We're just trying to straighten out a little bit of information is all." Gibbs said.

"May we come in, Mrs. Walker?" Fornell asked politely.

"Only if my boy can go rest." Mrs. Walker replied. "He needs his rest."

"I agree with you. He should be resting." Gibbs agreed with her. "He's free to go lie down."

"Then you're welcome to come inside."

They all enter into the house. Travis hobbles in the direction of the bedroom on the first floor.

"I left your mail on the bed." Mrs. Walker said to her son.

"Thanks, Ma." He said.

Mrs. Walker and the two agents walk into the living room as Travis goes to his room.

Travis enters into the familiar bedroom, yet, feels like a stranger intruding into it. Sitting on the bed is the mail his mother brought in earlier. The manila envelope is peculiar as it has no return address. He fears the envelope is from them.

Before taking out the contents of the envelope, Travis takes a deep breath in the hopes it's not from them. He lifts the envelope and the contents slide out onto the bed.

"Shit…" Travis muttered softly at the sight of what's now on the bed.

On the bed is a picture of a woman with a young girl; a mother and daughter. There's also a piece of paper that reads: 'Remember… We know your secret. We know what you did. Forget what you saw in Iraq and the people in the picture will not be harmed.'

In the living room, Gibbs walks to the fireplace where there are a bunch of pictures on the mantel.

"Nice pictures." Gibbs commented. "I can't imagine what it was like trying to tell them apart." He said of the identical twins.

"It wasn't very difficult." Mrs. Walker said of her sons. "I don't want to say anything bad about my son, but Randy was a troublemaker who acted out. That's why I think the gang attracted him."

"This is quite a trophy collection over here." Fornell stated while looking at the trophy wall.

"Travis always strived to be the best at everything he did." Mrs. Walker said. She looks back to Gibbs. "I had them wear bracelets when they were younger. Travis wore a blue bracelet and Randy wore a green bracelet. When they were four-years-old, they started switching bracelets in order to confuse me." She chuckles slightly. "I had to start lifting their shirts in order to determine who was who."

"Distinguishing mark?" Gibbs wondered.

"Randy suffered from a kidney defect on his right side. The kidney had to be removed; left him with a scar. The scar is what I looked for." She said. "I don't know how my late husband always used to tell them apart. He was very good with that. The kids would try to trick him, but he was never able to be tricked. I don't know how he did it. He just always knew." She added. "As they grew up, it was easier to tell them apart due to their personalities."

"There's one picture here I've been trying to make sense of." Gibbs said. "It doesn't seem to fit with the rest the pictures on the mantel."

"That's Catherine and Cassie." Mrs. Walker stated. "Catherine and Randy used to date. Cassie is their daughter. She's five-years-old now. I don't see my granddaughter much. I think it's too painful for Catherine to come around and see a person who looks exactly like the man she once loved. And it's very confusing to Cassie." She said. "Catherine is a great girl and a good mother. I always liked her. But she became pregnant at a young age. She had to drop out of school in order to take care of Cassie. Travis sends them money each month in order to help take care of Cassie since Catherine doesn't make a lot. Besides, she is his niece… A piece of Randy that's still alive." She wipes a tear from her eye.

Fornell approaches the mantel and starts looking at the pictures too.

"Which son is this?" Fornell asked.

"That's Travis." Mrs. Walker answered.

"That's an interesting necklace Travis is wearing in this picture and in several others." Fornell commented. "A St. Jude necklace."

"I know what you're insinuating, Agent Fornell." Mrs. Walker said agitatedly. "I told you before. Travis gave the necklace to Randy a couple weeks before…"

"Randy had never been seen wearing that necklace." Fornell stated. "Only Travis has."

"My son is a hero!" Mrs. Walker exclaimed. "Five families have a son to bury because of what Travis did. My son risked his life in order to give those families closure. So don't you come into my house and accuse my son of being something he's not!" She stops and takes a deep breath in order to calm down. "I would like for both of you to leave my house. My son needs his rest."

"Thank you for your time, Mrs. Walker." Gibbs said.

Gibbs and Fornell walk to the front door and exit from the house.

Travis hobbles back to the bed and lies down after eavesdropping on the conversation between his mother and the agents. Moments later, Mrs. Walker opens the door and sees her son lying on the bed sleeping. She smiles and closes the door so her son can rest. Travis opens his eyes as he knows his mother is gone and that he's alone in the room. There's no way he can rest. The amount of worry he feels is overwhelming. And he certainly doesn't know what to do because the people he's dealing with are not the type to leave loose ends if they cannot control a situation.


	5. Chapter 5

***Chapter 5***

After leaving the Walker residence, Gibbs makes a phone-call to SSA Aaron Hotchner of the BAU. The two arrange to meet at the federal prison that is the new home to the killing machine known as Apocalypse, or as Tony refers to him, a terminator version of Halloween's Michael Meyers.

Gibbs arrives at the federal prison by means of Fornell dropping him off since it's advised that Gibbs does not drive for the next two weeks.

He walks inside where his weapon is secured at the first gate and where two BAU agents are waiting.

"Special Agent Gibbs, it's nice to finally meet you." Hotchner greeted him and shakes his hand. "This is SSA Jason Gideon."

"Thank you for coming on such short notice." Gideon said.

"I don't know if I'll be able to help you or not." Gibbs stated. "Apocalypse was pretty pissed off at me the last time I saw him."

"Marien Greyson suffers from an extreme case of dissociative identity disorder with delusional tendencies." Gideon stated. "After you and your team taunted him, Marien was stripped of the Apocalypse persona."

"Unfortunately, the Apocalypse persona is showing signs of taking over again. And we fear Marien will be gone forever when it does." Hotchner added. "So we have a very narrow window of time in which we can study him as Marien Greyson."

"Wouldn't my presence provoke Apocalypse to return faster?" Gibbs wondered.

"It's a chance we're willing to take." Gideon replied.

"You're the only person he has ever really spoken to since his psychotic break back in 1988." Hotchner said. "If there's a chance of getting Marien to talk, then we have to try."

"Having a better understanding of Marien's case will help in future profiles of extreme disorders such as his." Gideon stated.

The three of them walk in the direction of the isolated area where Marien Greyson is currently being held. While walking, the profilers give Gibbs some tips and instructions.

They meet the Warden at a security gate.

"I have the room setup for you." The Warden stated.

They walk through the gate which closes behind them. A minute later, they enter into an observation room that overlooks an open area. There's an elevated walkway along the entire room which armed guards are keeping watch.

The middle of the room is completely empty except the lone Apocalypse sitting on the floor. His hands are bound to the floor by means of a reinforced contraption. And around his neck is the familiar shock collar.

The Warden notices Gibbs looking down at the prisoner.

"Since his incarceration here, he's killed five prisoners and a guard, crippled two prisoners and a guard, put one guard in a coma and put one prisoner is in the hospital with severe brain damage." The Warden stated. "We had to reinstate the shock collar due to that mishap. He's too dangerous to not have control over."

Gibbs notices a paper clip on the desk nearby keeping a stack of papers together. He quietly moves to the desk, grabs the paper clip and puts it in his pocket.

"Remain on the outside of the circle when you're down there." The Warden instructed of Gibbs.

"We're going to fit you with a mic so we can hear the conversation." Hotchner stated.

"If there is one." Gibbs commented.

"When you're down there, just remember what we told you." Gideon said.

Gideon prepares the video camera while Hotchner fits Gibbs with a microphone. Once everyone is set, Gibbs is escorted out of the room.

A minute passes as Gibbs makes his way through a couple security gates in order to get to the ground floor. Outside the door to the open area where Apocalypse is, he takes a deep breath. Finally, he enters into the room.

The eyes of the massively-sized prisoner look up from behind the strands of long hair dangling in front of his face. The face of the killing machine shows no emotion at the sight of the approaching person.

"Hello Mr. Greyson." Gibbs greeted him with staying outside the circle on the floor that's around the prisoner. "I'm Jethro Gibbs." He said. "I'm sure you're wondering why you're out here like this. They want me to talk to you. For some reason they think you'll respond to me. Personally, I can care less if you do or not." He continued. "I don't want to be here. Neither do you. But we're stuck here with each other." He added. There's a brief pause as he reaches into his pocket. "While we're stuck here with each other, I thought I'd take this stupid collar off." Gibbs takes the paper clip out of his pocket.

"What the hell is he doing?!" The Warden stated in an agitated manner as he watches Gibbs enter into the circle and reaches toward the collar.

"Hold on." Gideon said. "Let's see where he goes with this."

Gibbs unfolds the paper clip and places the end into a small hole in the collar, a design flaw he learned about while undercover in the Last Place on Earth. The paper clip disables the collar from being able to shock which also means it can be taken off with ease.

He backs away with the collar in hand and places it down on the floor outside the circle in a spot easily visible to prisoner.

"Do you know why you're in prison, Mr. Greyson?" Gibbs asked. "It wouldn't surprise me if you don't. You're being punished for someone else's crimes. It's ironic when you think about it. It's also unfair. But than again… Life isn't very fair now, is it?" He continued.

There's still no response from the prisoner. Nor does he bother to make eye contact or even acknowledge the presence of another human being in the room. It's as if he's completely shut off to the surroundings around him.

"It must have been hard growing up with the name Marien. Can't imagine what that must have been like for you with all the torment you must have endured." Gibbs stated. "I grew up with my own form of torment. My dad used to beat me every chance he got." He said. "My older brother Jared would beat me up more than my father though. I hated them both, especially my brother. Hell…" He chuckled at the next thought. "…I still hate my brother to this very day. He enjoys making my life miserable. The only good thing he ever did in his life was killing our father. Dad deserved what happened to him though. He had it coming." He continued. "What about your parents? Did they deserve what happened to them?"

"No, they didn't." Marien replied.

"Here we go. We're in." Hotchner said from their vantage point of the observation room.

"But they were weak." Apocalypse added in his creepy manner. "They needed to be destroyed."

"We're dealing with both of them, Gibbs." Gideon stated. "What we need for you to do is keep Marien talking. Don't give Apocalypse the opportunity to talk. Do not even address Apocalypse. Keep the conversation focused toward Marien."

"Why do you say your parents didn't deserve what happened to them, Marien?" Gibbs asked.

"What happened wasn't their fault." Marien responded. "The toy slipped out of my hand."

"Marien, look at me." Gibbs said. Marien looks at him. "What are you talking about?"

"The boy crossing the road." Marien said. "The toy wedged itself under the brake pedal. Mom couldn't stop the car."

Hotchner opens his cell-phone and contacts Gracia.

"You've reached the information super highway, how may I be of assistance?" Gracia asked.

"We need records of all unsolved hit and run accidents involving a boy. Search between the years 1974 to roughly 1983 in or around the city of Eugene, Oregon." Hotchner stated. "We're working on narrowing it down."

"Gibbs, we need you to find out a specific date or time-frame when the accident occurred." Gideon said. "And a location."

"The boy deserved to die for the weakness of stupidity he displayed by running out into the street." Apocalypse said.

"Apocalypse's awareness of Marien's thoughts and memories is a sign the merge of taking over is happening right now." Gideon said.

"Hey, Marien…" Gibbs tries to get his attention. "Stay focused… When and where did the accident occur?"

"We weren't too far from home at the time. It was late. It was dark. We were returning from my dad's friend's house." Marien answered. "I don't remember when. I just remember I was six years old."

"Gracia…" Hotchner tries to get her attention. "Narrow the search to the time period of October 24th 1977 to October 22nd 1978. As for location, look for all known friends of the father. They were coming home from the father's friend's house."

"Roger that, bossman. Narrowing the search as we speak." Gracia works swiftly narrowing the search of unsolved hit and run accidents. She also searches for known associates, aka friends, of the father in order to map out routes and cross-reference them against the unsolved hit and run cases.

"I never saw a dead body before." Marien said. "I was frozen. But at the same…"

"…invigorated by the sight of his insides spilled across the street." Apocalypse finished the sentence.

"Got it!" Gracia exclaimed as she finds the unsolved hit and run case. "Kyle Franklin, eleven-years-old, was killed by a hit and run in Eugene, Oregon on June 13th, 1978 around 10pm at night. The hit and run turned cold fast since there were no witnesses and no suspects. It occurred a couple blocks away from the Greyson residence."

"Thank you, Gracia." Hotchner stated with gratitude. The BAU finally knows the core root of Marien's childhood disturbance and the underlying contributing factor that caused his psychotic break many years later.

"Mom told me to put the toy away." Marien said. "But I didn't listen." He cried.

"Well now, look what we have here." Apocalypse said with a sinister smile.

"Marien…" Gibbs tries to get his attention because he knows they're about to loose Marien. "Listen to me." The man looks at him. "It wasn't your fault. It wasn't anyone's fault. What happened was an accident." He said sincerely. "It wasn't your fault, Marien…" There's a brief pause. "It wasn't your fault."

Marien's eyes close.

Apocalypse's eyes open.

"Only the strong survive. The weak must be destroyed." Apocalypse stated in his creep manner. "Marien was weak."

"Marien's gone." Gideon said. "We lost him."

"Hahahaha!" Apocalypse laughed evilly. "The weak will be purged from this world in a fury of…"

As Apocalypse continues talking, Gibbs walks away because his job for the BAU is finished. He approaches the exit. Gibbs turns slightly and looks back at the massively-sized prisoner one more time.

"The day of reckoning is inevitable." Apocalypse stated.

The door opens and Gibbs walks out of the room. He's escorted back up to the observation room.

"You did a good job in there, Agent Gibbs." Hotchner acknowledged how well Gibbs did.

"So that's it. Marien's gone." Gibbs wondered.

They all look out from the observation window down at the prisoner.

"The underlying factor that drove Apocalypse's determination was the search for the only surviving member of the Greyson family." Gideon stated. There's a brief pause. "Apocalypse finally found him."

"Thank you for your help, Agent Gibbs." Hotchner thanked Gibbs with gratitude. "We appreciate the assistance on such short notice."

"Yeah, no problem." Gibbs said. "I have an investigation to continue. I should get going."

"If you ever need the BAU's help, you have my card." Hotchner said.

The Warden escorts Gibbs out of the observation room. When they reach the front security desk, Gibbs is given his gun, badge and cell-phone back. He immediately makes a call to Fornell to come pick him up.

Once outside the gate waiting for his ride, Gibbs suddenly feels short of breath and lightheaded. A weakness sweeps over him and the surroundings become blurry as he can tell he's going to faint.

"Oh, shit." He said. Seconds later, Gibbs falls to the ground which breaks some of his stitches.

While lying on the ground, blood begins to seep through his shirt due to the broken stitches. And he goes in and out of consciousness as he lies there helpless on the ground.


	6. Chapter 6

***Chapter 6***

Catherine and Cassie walk out into the middle of the outside courtyard at a local shopping center. The young girl runs happily to the fountain in the center of the courtyard.

"Cassie, slow down." Catherine said with keeping a close eye on her daughter.

The young girl approaches the fountain with only one wish in her mind. She opens her hand and looks at the quarter her mother gave her. The shinny new quarter flashes brightly in the sunlight. Cassie closes her eyes. Seconds later, she opens them. Then she tosses the quarter into the fountain. It creates a little splash upon impact with the surface of the water.

"What did you wish for?" Catherine wondered as she sits down.

"For daddy to come home." Cassie said sadly as she misses her father.

"Cass, we've talked about this before." Catherine said.

"I know." Cassie acknowledged. "I've been really really good though. I make same wish every week." The young girl added. "And this year, I'll ask Santa to give me daddy for Christmas."

"Oh Cass…" Catherine's heart breaks for her daughter who just wants her father back. She gently pulls Cassie closer and holds her. The girl is too young to fully understand that her father is never coming back.

Cassie isn't the only one who misses Randy. The relationship between Catherine and Randy was always an on and off again type of relationship. They certainly had their problems. But in the end, even after all the issues between them, Catherine still loved the man. And it's those feelings for Randy that make it so difficult for her to see his family, especially Travis.

From the second level, Travis looks down Catherine and Cassie near the water fountain. A smile stretches across his face at the sight of them. His eyes quickly scan through the crowd of people all around. One person catches his immediate attention as someone who is possibly following them.

Suddenly, two men grab him. A very brief struggle occurs before Travis slams against the nearby support column. While lying on the floor, one of the men kicks him in the stomach.

The other man crouches down to get closer to Travis.

"You better keep your mouth shut, boy." The man said. "Cause we're watching them. And you." He continued. "We know your secret. We know what you did. The rules are simple here. We don't tell if you don't tell." He added. "Think about the girl. Her name's Cassie, correct? Her mother had to drop out of high school. Works a minimum wage job. Your… How shall I put this… 'current' military salary helps keep them afloat in this tough economy. Catherine cannot take care of Cassie without your help. Without the money you give her each month. You sure as hell cannot help them if you're in prison." He said. "Your salary keeps them from being homeless. Think about that."

"I'm being investigated." Travis stated as he sits up against the support column. "And it's certainly not looking good for me at this point."

"My employers are willing to give you an offer. A little incentive, a bonus for keeping your mouth shut." The man said. "Having to kill Catherine, Cassie, you and your mother would be too much of a hassle. Plus taking care of the bodies… It's this whole big mess." He added. Then he takes out a piece of paper and hands it over.

"What's this?" Travis wondered.

"A college fund setup in Cassie's name. All you have to do is sign on the dotted line." The man answered. "Whether you go to jail or not, Cassie's college tuition will be fully paid for. There's even enough there for those tremendously expensive college textbooks, to live on campus in the dorms, even a decent car. Also, depending upon the outcome of this investigation, my employers are willing to pay all your legal fees. And let's just say my employers have deep enough pockets to afford the very best defense attorney money can buy."

"Excuse me, are you alright, Sir?" A concerned woman asked.

"My friend lost his bearing, is all. He's fine." The man said as he helps Travis to stand.

"Yeah, I'm good. Not quite used to walking with a crutch." Travis said. "Seriously, I'm fine. Thank you."

The other man hands Travis the crutch. The woman walks away.

"College fund, eh…" Travis said in surprise of receiving something which he knows costs a lot.

"All you have to do is stick to the story." The man said. "It wasn't an ambush. Just a couple armed Iraqis tried to rob your vehicle in desperation."

"Yeah, wrong place wrong time."

"Exactly."

The men walk away, leaving Travis to think about how Cassie will be taken care of if he just keeps his mouth shut about the ambush. Everything else he wrote in the incident report is true. It's just the ambush piece that is a pure fabrication. But the Marine Corps believe every word of the fabricated piece. Though, part of Travis does feel bad about dishonoring the fallen Marines by lying about the ambush.

Catherine and Cassie leave the outside courtyard in order to go home. Mrs. Walker approaches Travis on the second level.

"I bought those cute placemats I…" Mrs. Walker notices the expression on her son's face. "What's wrong, Travis?"

"Nothing." Travis answered. "I was just thinking about what happened in Iraq."

"I'm concerned about PTSD. I want you see a professional."

"I don't have PTSD, Ma." Travis said.

"It sure seems like it. You've been distance ever since you returned."

"Look at me, Ma. I look like I was in a war." Travis stated. "I was blown up, shot, I'm in pain…"

"This is why you should be resting." Mrs. Walker insisted. "Instead, you drag me out here to go window shopping."

"At least you got the placemats you wanted to get."

"Yes, but how can I enjoy the placemats when you force me to be overly concerned about your well-being?"

"Alright, Ma. You got me there." Travis said. "I just wanted to get out of the house for a couple minutes. That's all."

"My son the hero." Mrs. Walker said with pride as she looks at him. "I'm proud of you, Travis."

"I know."

The two of them make their way to the elevator so that they can return home.

In the parking lot, the two men enter into their vehicle. The man in the driver's seat takes out his cell-phone and dials a number.

"The boy took the bait." The man said. "Once he brings the paper to the bank, the FBI will be all over him. Having ties to terrorists will completely destroy his credibility. No one will ever believe a word he says."

The man closes the cell-phone and starts the car. They leave the shopping center with the bait of the College fund set in motion.


	7. Chapter 7

***Tuesday***

***Chapter 7***

Gibbs awakes in the familiar setting of his bedroom. He tries to get up but quickly realizes he's unable since his right hand is handcuffed to the bed post. A sigh escapes from his mouth as he sits up.

"Lie back down." Jamie said as she enters into the room.

"The handcuffs are a bit much." Gibbs commented.

"You're stubborn." Jamie said. She sits on the bed. "Now lie down and rest." She said in concern for her father's health. "You fainted yesterday, broke half of your stitches and lost quite a bit of blood. I knew you shouldn't have gone back to work so soon."

"Yesterday?!"

"You've been out for almost 24 hours."

"I have a job to do." He sits back up.

"Lie down!" Jamie demanded. "Please…" She added. "The case is in Tony's capable hands. If you trust him to handle it, to lead the team, than allow him to do so."

Gibbs lies back down because he has faith in Tony's ability to lead the team as he has done it before.

"Thanks, Dad." Jamie thanked him with a smile. "But I know you want to feel useful in Sergeant Walker's time of need. So I had Tony bring over a bunch of files for you." She said. "Everything you need is in the box." She lifts the box from the floor and places it on the bed. "Your cell-phone is on the nightstand if you need to contact Tony."

"Are we any closer to sorting this Sergeant Walker case out?" Gibbs asked.

"I don't know." Jamie answered honestly. "I've been here with you since yesterday."

"What I don't understand is why I'm at home and not in the hospital."

"Umm…" Jamie hesitates slightly due to the funniness of the answer. "You're still in the trial phase of the adoption process for custody of Julianna. I was able to get Dr. House to falsify your medical records for last week's problem. If the social worker were to see you've been in the hospital again, that just wouldn't look good."

"Where did you take me?"

"The vet." Jamie said as she tries not to laugh. "You didn't leave me with much of an option." She added. "At least I didn't get you neutered. I thought about it. But that would've cost extra."

"Thank you for the decision you made." He thanked her sincerely as being in the hospital again could've jeopardized what he's been working hard for; custody of Julianna.

"You're welcome." Jamie said. "You seriously need to take it easy, Dad. And take the diet seriously."

"I know." Gibbs said. "But I'm going through coffee withdrawal."

"You just have to live with it for two weeks. For me and Julianna's sake."

"I'll call Jenny and tell her I'm taking two weeks off."

Jamie leans down and gives her father a kiss on the cheek as she's thankful for the decision he's making to take time off work.

"Can you at least take the handcuffs off?" Gibbs wondered.

"Sure." Jamie chuckled. She takes out the key from her pocket and unlocks the handcuffs. "I should really go to work. Abby's probably lost without me. If you need anything, just give me a call." She gets off the bed and walks to the door. Before leaving, she turns around. "I love you, Dad."

"I love you too."

Jamie leaves the room. With his daughter gone, Gibbs reaches into the box and pulls out a file. He begins to read as he remains lying on the bed relaxing.

A car drives into the parking lot of Jack's Pancake House where Catherine works as a waitress. Tony parks the car, exits from the vehicle and walks toward the building. Upon entering inside the pancake house, he's immediately greeted by one of the waitresses.

"Welcome to Jack's Pancake House…" The lady begins to say.

"I'm looking for Catherine Domingues." Tony said he flashes his NCIS credentials. "I just need to speak with her for a few minutes."

"Sure, let me get her."

The lady walks away toward the back where Catherine is pouring coffee for a couple customers. They briefly talk. The lady covers for Catherine so she can go talk to the NCIS agent.

"I was told you need to speak with me." Catherine said as she approaches the front where people wait to be seated. "Not sure what NCIS needs from me."

"I just want to ask you a couple questions about Randy Walker." Tony stated. He can tell from her body language that the topic is going to be difficult for her.

"Jack…" Catherine tries to get her boss' attention.

"Yeah?" He wondered.

"I'm going to take my break now, okay."

"That's no problem."

"Thanks."

Tony and Catherine walk out of the pancake house in order to have some privacy. The two of them start walking down the street.

"I don't understand what NCIS needs to talk to me about Randy for. Randy was never in the Navy or the Marine Corps. He tried for the Marines Corps, but only lasted two weeks in boot camp." Catherine said.

"We're currently helping the FBI with…" Tony begins to say but stops mid-sentence. "Tell me about Randy and your relationship with him."

"Randy was a good man, but he had his problems. He was always very distracted. For some reason he could never tell me why. I loved him with all my heart though. We had this on and off again relationship." Catherine stated. "He unfortunately had commitment issues. Everything he ever started, he always quit; Marine Corps, soccer, baseball, went through fifteen jobs in less than a four month period. I shouldn't have said everything. Randy was very good with his hands. He could fix anything and create anything. It was one thing I found to be truly amazing about him. It was the one thing he never quit on. Randy's biggest commitment issue was to me. When things looked promising, he would always back away." She continued. "We dated all through high school. I had to drop out senior year because Cassie was born." There's a brief pause. "I think Randy was scared of being a father. Scared he would screw it up. But he loved her. And he meant the world to Cassie." She takes a deep breath as the two of them continue walking down the street. "Randy's involvement with that stupid gang drove him further away from everyone with each passing day. He was officially part of the gang for five years. But unofficially, it was more like eight years. He was lost; always was. He wasn't even there when Cassie was born. He was in jail that night. Wasn't there for her first words, her first steps… When he was around, I could see he was happy. But he kept slipping further and further into the gang life."

"Take your time, Catherine." Tony said as he could tell she was about to cry.

"In the last year, Randy and I fought about it a lot. I wanted him out of the gang because it would one day get him killed. And than Cassie wouldn't have her father anymore." Catherine said with trying to hold back her emotions. "After months of arguing, it finally sunk in. I was so happy that he agreed to get out. It was such a relief." She said. "I thought we would finally be a family, or at least have a chance at it. Until I got a call from Randy's mother a couple days later… Found out Randy…" She pauses for a couple seconds as she takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry…" She wipes her tears away. "When Randy said he was going to fix this, I didn't think..." She said. "One time a rat was in my apartment. I called Randy to take care of it. I thought he would come over with rat poison and some rat traps to kill the thing. Instead, he came over with all these supplies. Randy created this elaborate rat trap for such a simple task." She chuckles slightly in recalling what the trap looked like. "He was very creative with building things. Like I said, very good with his hands. Anyway, the rat was caught and instead of killing it, he brought it outside and let it go. So I don't believe he did what people say he did. He just didn't have it in him to take a life."

"Do you recognize this?" Tony hands her a picture. She looks at it and nods. "It's believed this St. Jude necklace was given to Randy by his brother Travis a couple weeks before the incident."

"It was." Catherine confirmed. "But Randy immediately gave it back within a couple seconds." She said. "The necklace belonged to their father. He gave it to Travis on his deathbed eight years ago." She added. "Travis knew Randy was slipping. He tried to give it to Randy in the hopes it would help him find his way. Randy didn't like the fact of receiving a necklace bearing the patron saint of lost causes. He found it to be offensive because he didn't believe he was a lost cause. So he didn't want it and gave it back." There's a brief pause. "With Randy gone, I've been struggling. Not so much money-wise; luckily Travis helps me with sending me what he can each month. My biggest struggle is emotional… I miss Randy so much. I try to hold it together for Cassie's sake. But I can't help crying myself to sleep almost every night." She tries not to allow her emotions for the man she once loved to get the best of her; the man she still loves.

They stop walking. Catherine looks back at how far they've walked.

"I should get back to work." Catherine said. "I'm pulling a double shift today."

"I appreciate you taking the time to speak with me." Tony said.

Catherine walks in the direction of Jack's Pancake House while Tony remains standing where he is.

The investigation looks even worse for Travis now, especially after Catherine confirming Randy never had 'real' possession over the St. Jude necklace. Tony takes a deep breath as he gathers his thoughts and thinks about everything in regard to the case. All they're looking for is a piece, a single shred of good news that will help Travis, yet, all they seem to find hurts him even more. Maybe Travis really is guilty of helping his brother Randy murder those gang members.


	8. Chapter 8

***Chapter 8***

At the Walker residence, Travis tosses and turns from a bad dream he's having. The dream, which is more a nightmare than anything, causes him to awake in a cold sweat. He's breathing heavily, heartbeat is erratic and he's in a considerable amount of pain from all the tossing and turning in his fragile state.

"Another nightmare, Sergeant?" Eckman asked from the chair he's sitting on in the corner of the room. "Reliving the hell of Iraq every single time you close your eyes must be tough. Maybe your mom is right to be concerned about PTSD."

Corporal Eckman stands up. Blood immediately starts seeping through his clothes in several spots. He looks down at the blood.

"I've been shot." He said. Eckman walks closer to the bed where Travis pulls away as if he's scared. "Help me, Sergeant."

"I… I can't help you."

"Of course you can't. Cause you'd rather look out for yourself than to honor the memory of the fallen."

"That's not true."

"Than why do you continue to lie? We were ambushed and you know it. And you know who's responsible, yet, you don't have the decency to honor our memories with the truth."

"I brought you all home."

"We're dead, Sergeant!" Eckman exclaimed. "You haven't even given my sister the letter yet. Too ashamed to see her? Too much guilt wearing down on your soul? It must be burden carrying the lies you carry." There's a brief pause. "I may be home, but how can I rest when the people who did this to me are not punished for their crime? Why do you protect them? Does the squad not matter?"

"The squad matters. It's just…"

"Let me rest in peace, Sergeant." Eckman said. "Let us all rest in peace."

Travis wakes up in a cold sweat with heavy breathing, an erratic heartbeat and a considerable amount of pain due to the tossing and turning. The overwhelming guilt he feels causes his emotions to run rampant. Tears quickly engulf his eyes as he breaks down and cries.

In a fit of anger, he sits up and shoves the nightstand as hard as he can. An immense pain immediately hits as he and the nightstand fall to the floor. The pain from his wounds quickly becomes unbearable to the point where he cannot even crawl to the medication on the other side of the floor.

"Ma!" Travis cried in pain.

Mrs. Walker swiftly enters into the room to see her son lying on the floor in what looks to be excruciating pain.

"Travis!" She cried in concern for her son. Within a second, she runs to the pill bottle on the floor, opens it and takes one of the pills out. Then she gives it to him.

Mrs. Walker holds her son as the pain medication takes effect. Once the pain subsides, Travis just cries in his mother's loving arms.

Tony exits onto the third floor of NCIS Headquarters. The sight of Ziva and McGee working gives him a little comfort that they haven't given up.

"Please tell me you found something, anything while I was gone?" Tony demanded to know upon entering into the bullpen. Neither of them gives an answer. "Ugh…" He sighed as he sits down.

While sitting at his desk, Tony looks at his watch. He then picks up the phone and dials a number.

"You've reached the National Geographic Society, my name is April." The secretary stated. "How may I help you?"

"This is Anthony DiNozzo. I'm calling in regard to the article titled; Nigeria: Among the tragedy, not all hope is lost." Tony stated. "The child whom the article speaks of and is in the pictures is my son. I adopted him. His name is Chioke." He continued. "I'd like to speak to the author of the article."

"Hold please." She said. A couple minutes pass as Tony is on hold. "Are you there, Sir?"

"Yes."

"I'm transferring you now."

"This is Alan Conway, Chairman of the National Geographic Society." The man introduced himself.

"Hi Mr. Conway. Thank you for taking the time to speak with me. I'm Anthony DiNozzo." Tony introduced himself. "I'm the father of the boy in the Nigeria article."

"I understand you would like to meet the author of the article."

"I just want to talk to him about what he saw. I love my son. His name is Chioke." Tony said. "I need to know everything about that day. Please, it's important for me to know where Chioke came from and what happened in his life."

"I'd like to arrange a meeting so we can properly discuss the contents of the article." Mr. Conway said.

The two of them continue to talk with arranging a meeting; a meeting that Chioke will be the center of. After the conversation, Tony hangs up the phone and thinks for a moment about the possibility of knowing even more about where Chioke came from. But for Tony, he loves the boy so much that he needs to know.

Jamie enters into the bullpen minutes later and walks directly to her husband's desk.

"How's your dad?" Tony asked in concern.

"Stubborn." Jamie replied. "But he's going to remain at home."

"Oh great, so I am in charge."

"I'm guessing the investigation isn't going well."

"The only place it's going is to putting Travis behind bars. There's no supporting evidence that does not place Travis in the warehouse that night, other than his mother's sworn testimony that her son was home that night."

"Not everyone is innocent."

"I know my little sweetie's are innocent." Tony said happily as he looks at Jamie's belly. He places his hands on Jamie's hips and gently pulls her closer. "Aren't you? Yes you are. This is daddy speaking." He lifts her shirt slightly to get a better look. "Let me tell you, when you two are born…"

"You're embarrassing me."

"Did you hear that? We're embarrassing mommy." Tony said to Jamie's belly. "Alright, daddy needs to go back to work. I need you two to distract mommy for me so mommy doesn't distract me. I don't know, start kicking her or something."

Jamie smacks Tony on the back of the head.

"Don't encourage bad behavior." Jamie stated. "Besides, they're too young to start kicking. I hardly even have a belly yet."

"Isn't smacking the back of my head encouraging bad behavior?"

"They didn't see it."

"Alright, I really do need to go back to work. Love you two." He leans forward and kisses Jamie's belly.

"And what about me?"

"You're alright." Tony said as he looks toward his computer.

"You brat." Jamie smacks him on the back of the head again. Tony chuckles as she walks away to her father's desk.

Suddenly, Tony's cell-phone rings. He answers it. Mrs. Walker is on the other line. They briefly converse before Tony closing the phone.

"Ziva, gear up." Tony commanded as he grabs his own gear. "We have a situation."

McGee stands up and grabs his gear.

"You're staying here, Probie." Tony stated. "I cannot allow you in the field. What I need for you to do is contact Fornell and tell him to meet us at the Walker residence."

Tony and Ziva run to the elevator. McGee remains standing at his desk with a slight disappoint that Jamie recognizes. She approaches the desk.

"It's nothing personal, Tim." Jamie defended her husband's decision to not allow McGee into the field. "He's happy you're back. But you know he cannot allow you to be in the field in your current physical state."

"What if they need backup?"

"Raise your arm."

McGee raises his left arm as high as he can, which isn't really high at all so there's no way he can steady a weapon with two hands.

"Ah…" McGee sighed from the pain in his shoulder.

"Give it time, Tim." Jamie said. "Your shoulder will heal." There's a brief pause. "This is a team. Every member of the team plays an equally important role. Each member's role keeps the team moving in the direction it needs to move. No job is too little."

"Thanks, Jamie." McGee thanked her for the pep talk regarding desk duty and his need to feel useful.

McGee picks up the phone and dials Fornell's number. After the phone-call, he and Jamie continue to converse for a little while about him being back at NCIS and how he's doing physically, emotionally, etc.


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: **I do apologize for the delay since the last update. Went on a month's vacation to Denver in August; had a load of fun btw. When I returned home in September, I was struggling to get back into writing. Then I started work which is leaving me too exhausted to really do anything or even think about writing. Excuses, excuses, I know, I know.

**------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------**

***Chapter 9***

Two vehicles quickly pull up to the Walker residence. Tony and Ziva exit from their car; they draw their weapons. And Fornell exits from his car; he also draws his weapon. The three of them cautiously approach the house.

"You have to find my son!" Mrs. Walker cried hysterically as she exits from the house.

"What happened? It sounded like a fight occurred." Tony said.

"Travis came out of his room acting really weird." She started. "I tried to talk him down but every time I tried, he…" There's a brief pause. "…he was destroying everything of his. Knocked over or threw the trophies, pictures… Then he started talking as if his squadmates were in the room. I think he believes his back in Iraq. It's PSTD, I know it." She continued. "He's not well. You have to find my son."

"Before he hurts somebody…." Fornell muttered softly to himself. "…again."

"We'll find him, Mrs. Walker." Tony stated. "I need you to stay in the house in case he comes back."

"Alright…" She said. Then she turns and worriedly walks into the house.

"Let's spread out. He couldn't have gone far." Tony said. "It can't be too hard to find a Marine who can hardly walk."

The three of them depart in different directions in order to search for Travis.

In a back alley between the houses, Travis cautiously hobbles along with his crutch. The environment is morphed in his eyes. It is night when it is actually day. The surroundings resemble that of the Iraqi city the ambush incident occurred in.

The laughter of children fills the air in one of the backyards. The sound draws Travis' attention, but not as laughter; as the chatter between two Iraqi's.

"Did you hear that? I think the enemy is over there." One boy said as he loads his toy gun. The other boy does the same. "Shh…"

From the brush, Travis watches as the Iraqi's walk toward the garage. He slowly pulls out a knife in preparation to possibly take out the targets if need be. There's only the one objective; get his fallen Marines back home to their families.

The two boys approach the garage. One of them opens the door. They both go in yelling 'freeze' before the caps start firing. The sound of the caps firing off only deepens Travis' condition as he sees them a major threat to his objective. In his mind, engaging the enemy is necessary.

After a minute, the boy exit from the garage.

Tony sees Travis hiding in the brush with a knife in hand. He also notices the children with toy guns.

"Oh no…" Tony sighed softly as he realizes the situation has escaladed. The situation needs to be defused, and needs to be defused fast before the children get hurt. So Tony takes his shoes and jacket off; leaving them to the side.

"Stop or we'll shoot!" One of the boys yelled. The firing of caps goes off as the boys run around the corner of the garage.

It's now the perfect time for Travis to stealthily sneak up on the enemy.

"Ugh…" Tony cried in pain while on the ground dragging himself along like a wounded man.

The cry of pain draws Travis' attention away from the armed Iraqi's. His eyes widen at the sight of the wounded American on the ground. Who Travis sees is one of his squadmates, not Tony.

"Eckman…" Travis said in shock because he thought his companion was dead.

"Travis…" Tony looks toward the Sergeant with a look of pain upon his face. He reaches his hand out as if asking for help.

Travis begins to hobble out from the brush in order to help his fallen Marine. As he slowly walks with his crutch, he cautiously looks all around for the enemy. After two minutes pass, he reaches Eckman.

"I got you, bud." Travis said. "I'll get you to safety." With his free hand, he grabs Eckman by the arm and begins to drag him to the side away from the two Iraqi's.

Tony lets a deep sigh of relief loose because his quick thinking prevented the two children from being killed. Playing into Travis' PSTD was the smart play. That was the easy part. The next part will be trickier; talking Travis back into reality.

As Tony is being slowly dragged away by the hurt Travis, he realizes it's going take a while. A hurt man dragging another while using a crutch and who can hardly stand as it is makes for a slow get-a-way. Nearby is a stack of newspapers which Tony grabs at. He tosses the junk; keeping the sports page.

Tony looks at the scores using his one free hand.

"Oh, Washington won." He muttered softly to himself while looking at the box score for the game.

"How you doing back there?" Travis wondered as he continues to drag Eckman.

"Ugh…" Tony sighed. "It hurts. I don't think I'm going to make it." He glances back to the sports page and starts reading the blurb about the Washington game.

"Stay with me, Eckman. You'll make it. You have to."

"Eckman…" Tony muttered to himself. Then he shrugs his free shoulder and goes back to reading about the game.

Meanwhile, at the Gibbs residence, Gibbs reaches into one of the file boxes Jamie left for him. He pulls out the report Sergeant Walker wrote about the incident in the Red Zone where his men were killed. He begins to read it. But while reading it, something strikes him as being odd.

"Son of a bi…" Gibbs stated in shock as he sits up on the bed at what he's reading. Even though he promised his daughter he would stay home to rest, he knows he must break that promise. He needs to. He has no choice. But he's sure his daughter will understand.

Gibbs gets off the bed and leaves the room.

Sergeant Walker finally drags Tony, who he thinks is Eckman, to a safe location away from the two armed Iraqi's who are actually just children playing. Walker kneels down to the ground as best he can while using the crutch to steady himself.

"I thought you were dead, Eckman." Travis said.

"We're not supposed to be here, Travis." Tony stated.

"Of course we're not supposed to be here. But this was our mission. We failed." Travis said. "And now I have to get you and the others out of here."

"This isn't what you think you it is, Travis." Tony said as he stands up. "We're not in Iraq right now."

"What do you mean we're not in Iraq?! Looking around. This certainly isn't America." There's a brief pause. "I know you're scared and wish we were home. Someone knew we were coming. They were waiting to ambush us. But I promise I'll get you back to your sister."

"Wait a minute… your report has no mention of the incident being an ambush." Tony said in the confusion of possible misinformation in the report.

"Report? What are you talking about?" Travis wondered as he starts to break from his PTSD. But it's a hazy mess stuck in the middle between PTSD and reality. "You work for them, don't you…?"

"Them…?"

"How could you sell out, Eckman?!" Travis yelled as he grabs Tony, shoves him against the wall and puts the knife to his throat. "The others are dead because Ravenwood benefits by playing both sides of the fence! And you're helping them!"

"NCIS, put the weapon down, Travis!" Ziva yelled as she points her sidearm at him.

Travis glances at Ziva. She morphs from Ziva to an Iraq over and over again. He tries to readjust his eyes but it continues to happen.

"You drugged me, didn't you?!" Travis barked at Tony. Then he looks to Ziva. "Stay back or I slit his throat!"

"Travis, you need to calm down. I'm Anthony DiNozzo. I work for NCIS. I've been trying to help you the past two days…"

"Bullshit!" Travis barked at him. "Why can't you people leave me alone?! You have enough on me to keep me quiet! Leave me and my family alone!"

"Tony…" Ziva said in concern for the situation escalating.

"Don't!" He exclaimed.

"If your boss wants to send a hit squad after me, then I'm sure as hell going to take one of you fuckers down with me!"

"Tony… I cannot…" Ziva begins to say as she needs to do something now or Tony's throat is going to be cut.

"No!" Tony quickly grabs Travis and moves slightly to the side. He kicks out the crutch, snatches the knife from Travis' hand and knocks him the ground, preventing Ziva from having to shoot him.

Tony breathes a sigh of relief while Travis lies on the ground in pain. The situation was certainly a close call.

"That was close." Ziva stated as she holsters her sidearm and steps closer.

"Yeah, it was." Tony agreed. "But something certainly doesn't add up here."

"He is not telling us the whole truth."

The two of them stand over Travis wondering about what he's not telling them and how Ravenwood Security Group has any type of role in this whole thing.


	10. Chapter 10

***Chapter 10***

Tony and Ziva return to NCIS Headquarters after bringing Travis Walker back home since he refused to be taken to the hospital. They exit from the elevator on the third floor and immediately walk into the bullpen.

"You got anything for me, McGee?" Tony demanded to know because time is running out and they're no closer to finding an answer regarding Sergeant Walker's status.

"There's no active investigation on Ravenwood Security Group." McGee promptly replied. "Every security firm in Iraq has complaints against them. But Ravenwood has the cleanest record of them all. They have a couple minor complaints. That's about it. Nothing to suggest they're…"

"Cleanest record…" Ziva wondered. "There is no way any security firm in Iraq only has a couple minor complaints against them."

"Travis said they're playing both sides of the fence." Tony said. "Maybe there's something to that."

"He was also not in his right mind at the time." Ziva stated.

"And Ravenwood isn't under investigation." McGee added.

"We have nothing else to go on!" Tony said in an upset manner. "Everything we have points to Travis being guilty."

"He's innocent, DiNozzo." Gibbs said as he walks by. "In a manner of speaking…"

"You should be home resting." Tony said as Gibbs walks up the back stairs in the direction of MTAC.

"Gibbs says he is innocent." Ziva said.

"Then he's innocent." McGee said.

"And we can't prove it." Tony added.

After Gibbs enters into MTAC, McGee looks at the clock. He only just returned to work yesterday and feels weird about having to ask to leave, especially due to the reason of having to leave. Having to leave work to see his therapist makes him feel somewhat ashamed and embarrassed. But he has to go; he needs it.

"I have to be somewhere." McGee said as he stands up and grabs his belongings.

"We have an investigation. We need your help here." Tony said.

"I know, but…"

"There's no but here, McGee. I've been team leader since yesterday in Gibbs' absence…" Tony said. Then he rethinks what he just said. "And don't give me that Gibbs is back. I saw him. That necessarily mean he's back, back. I mean, he shouldn't even be here. And why he's here right now is a mystery all its own. But for now, he's back, but not officially back even though it looks like he's back. So until he's back from being back, I'm team leader." He continued to confuse himself. There's a brief pause as McGee and Ziva are both confused by his rant. "If you need to be somewhere then you should've made me aware of it."

"Therapy appointment." McGee said in a slightly ashamed tone. It's something he didn't want to tell DiNozzo but was forced into it.

"Go." Tony gives his permission. Then he looks down toward the file on his desk and opens it.

"What, no therapy joke?" McGee wondered. "No McGee is crazy joke?"

"I know what happened, Tim." Tony said as he looks up at him. "It's certainly nothing for me to joke about. And seeing a therapist is nothing for you to feel ashamed of. Now go. Don't be late to your appointment." He looks down at the file and continues to work. McGee walks to the elevator and leaves.

"That was mature of you, Tony." Ziva complimented him.

"I'm cutting him some slack. First day back pranks yesterday were okay. It was all in good fun, making him feel nothing changed. But kicking a man when he's down isn't okay."

In MTAC, a conference transmission with live video feed appears on the large screen. The man on the screen is Sergeant Walker's Commanding Officer or CO for short.

"Special Agent Gibbs, what do I owe the pleasure of such a late call?" The CO asked.

"Sergeant Travis Walker." Gibbs answered. "I need to know why he and his team were in the Red Zone…"

"You know I cannot discuss classified operations, Agent Gibbs."

"I have an innocent man over here on the verge of spending the rest of his life in federal prison for a crime he didn't commit." Gibbs stated. "I know the operation is classified. I know it's need-to-know. But I'm telling you right now, I need to know."

"What kind of trouble is my Marine in?"

"Multiple homicide."

"My Marine is no murderer, Agent Gibbs. Sergeant Walker is a hero."

"I know. That's why I need your help to prove his innocence. And the only way I can do that is by knowing what happened over there and why."

"There's no guarantee I'll be able to tell you anything. But I'll see what I can do."

"This was Sergeant Walker's third tour." Gibbs stated. "Describe his behavior when he arrived in Iraq."

"He was… distracted. Had difficulty getting back into standard procedure." The CO said. "I know he lost his brother when he was home in the states. So I didn't give him a hard time over it." There's a brief pause. "Sergeant Walker and his team were on the fast track to becoming one of my best operations squads. They worked very well with each other. Never failed an operation. Always ended with the highest standard of mission success. They were going to be promoted when they returned from their excursion into the Red Zone. It was supposed to be a simple operation, Agent Gibbs. But it turned into a disaster."

"Even failed operations can be measured in success." Gibbs stated. "All of those Marines made their way home."

"True. And that's why Sergeant Walker is a hero. I don't know how he did it. But he managed to pull off the impossible." The CO said. "He's a legend over here."

"And the hero to five families over here."

"He deserves that Silver Star."

"I agree." Gibbs agreed. "He does."

"Give me a couple hours to pull some strings."

The CO motions to his technician to terminate the feed, ending the transmission.

Gibbs takes a deep breath before he motions to the technician to start the next video conference; this time with the SecNav. The SecNav is the second conference among a long list of conferences that will take all night. But Gibbs has no choice since they only have until tomorrow afternoon.


	11. Chapter 11

***Chapter 11***

Tony pulls the car onto the street he lives. He cannot wait to get home in order to give his son the present that's in the trunk. The present is something he's been meaning to get for Chioke for a while now, especially since Julianna has one.

A smile stretches across his face as he arrives home to see his wife and the children outside playing on the neighbor's property, Gibbs' property. Julianna rides her bike across the lawn since she's been riding around at the time.

"Hi Tony." Julianna greeted him. "Did you get it?"

"Yup, I got it." He said as he opens the trunk.

"Cool." She said with a smile.

Chioke catches up and immediately peeks over the car into the trunk to see what his father got for him; he knew a present was coming. His eyes widen in excitement at the sight of Tony taking out a shiny new bike from the trunk.

"Your first bike." Tony said happily. The joy on his son's face at the sight of the bike means the world to him. The little boy quickly looks at Julianna who is once again riding around; trying to figure out how exactly to use it.

'What those?' Chioke signed with his hands at the sight of his bike having extra wheels attached to it.

"Those are called training wheels." Tony answered. "They're to assist a learner until he or she develops a good sense of balance on the bicycle."

'I want try now.' Chioke puts his right leg over the bike and places it onto the pedal. After taking his other foot off the ground, the bike wobbles slightly. He becomes scared; thinking he's going to fall.

"I got you." Tony said as he helps balance the boy. He maneuvers into a position where the front wheel is between his legs in order to stabilize the bike. His hand reaches in the trunk and pulls out a helmet. "When we ride the bike we always wear a helmet." Tony said as he places a child-sized helmet onto Chioke's head. He tightens the strap to make sure it doesn't fall off. "You ready to ride around?"

'I not want you to let go.'

"I won't, I promise."

Tony moves to the side and places his hand on the handle bar. The little boy begins to pedal. His father jogs alongside the bike in order to keep his promise of not letting go.

"Good job, Chioke." Julianna said encouragingly as she rides close-by. "You'll be a pro in no time."

As the children ride their bikes, a car pulls up in front of Gibbs' house. The social worker working the Gibbs/Julianna custody case steps out of the car. The sight of the social worker makes Jamie worry since her father isn't home, nor will he be any time soon.

"Where's your father?" The social worker asked of Jamie who is sitting on the front steps to the house.

"He's deeply sorry he couldn't be here for today's visit, but…"

"This is a rescheduled visit due to him being sick last week." The social worker stated. "Your father is the one who rescheduled for today."

"He knows. But something very important came up at work so he's unable to be here."

"I hope he doesn't make a habit of canceling on me or even constantly working late which it seems he does quite frequently." She said while writing on the paper on her clipboard. "In any case, I would like to observe the home environment and speak with Julianna later on."

While Jamie and the social worker talk, Julianna cannot help but be distracted by the lady's presence. Especially since Jethro is not home. Due to the distraction, she becomes uninterested in riding around. She stops in the driveway and stands there; Jamie notices her anxiety.

"Time for dinner." Jamie said to her family. Then she looks to the social worker. "You're welcome to join us if you want." She said politely in an inviting manner. "We have dinner, then from 7pm until 8pm is family time."

Everyone enters inside Gibbs' house.

Jamie prepares dinner with Julianna's help while Tony and Chioke set the table. The social worker watches on in observation of how the family interacts with each other.

Over two hours later, Gibbs is still in MTAC currently in a conference with someone from Starline Defense, a security firm that works closely with the Marine Corps and Navy.

"I was able to bury my son because of what that boy did in Iraq." The head of the security firm said. "I owe him everything." There's a brief pause. "You just send the volunteers my way and I'll make the arrangements. It's not every day something like this happens."

"I appreciate the assistance, Colonel." Gibbs thanked him. "I have a very important conference I need to attend to right now."

"I understand, Gunny."

The video feed is terminated. A new video feed is quickly established.

"Hi Jethro." Julianna said happily as she sits on her bed with a laptop. "You're late."

"By like fifteen seconds." Gibbs said.

"More like twenty. But who's counting."

"Apparently you are."

While Gibbs and eight year old Julianna talk, the social worker approaches the entrance to Julianna's room. She stops outside the door with hearing Gibbs' voice.

"I lied to her when she talked to me earlier." Julianna said. "She asked me what time I go to bed. I told her I go to bed at 9pm every night."

"Yeah, we do lose track of time when we're down in the basement working on the boat."

"I like working on the boat with you and Jamie. Makes me feel like I belong."

"I know. We enjoy your help." Gibbs said. "But you shouldn't have lied to her."

"You lied to her last week about your illness. It wasn't what Dr. House told her it was."

"I set a bad example to you last week. And I apologize for that."

"If you didn't then she would take me away. And if I didn't, it wouldn't have looked good for you. I don't want to be taken away."

"We need to do this right, Julianna." Gibbs said. "Let's make a pact to never lie to the social worker ever again."

"Okay."

"We'll pinky swear on it as soon as I get home."

"When are you coming home?"

"I'm going to be here for quite a while."

"Oh…" She sighed. "I thought you were going to be here to read me a story tonight."

"That's one of the reasons this is my most important conference of the night." He said with a smile. "Lie down and try to go to sleep."

Julianna places the laptop on the nightstand next to the bed; facing her so he can see. She lies down with the small lamp on, pulls the covers over herself, closes her eyes and waits for the story to begin.

"The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams." Gibbs stated the title and author. "There was once a velveteen rabbit, and in the beginning he was really splendid. He was fat and bunchy, as a rabbit should be…"

Gibbs continues to recite the story to Julianna off the top of his head. It was a story he used to read to Jamie every night when she was younger. So he knows the book inside and out, word for word.

For the social worker, she doesn't know what exactly to make of the visit. Gibbs not being here for their rescheduled visit and frequently working late is a definite hindrance to his case. Than learning about the two lies is further evidence this may not be the best environment for the girl. But the effort he consistently exhibits shows a love that she cannot deny is there. The only question is; is that love enough to outweigh all of the doubts that have accumulated over the course of this temporary custody trial?

The social worker walks away from the door. It's her time to leave so they can have their time together.


	12. Chapter 12

***Wednesday***

***Chapter 12***

Sergeant Travis Walker waits nervously in the interrogation room. To him, being in the room certainly isn't a good sign at all. And inside the observation is Mrs. Walker who is watching her son in concern for his freedom.

The door to the observation room opens. To the surprise of Mrs. Walker, Catherine Domingues and her daughter Cassie, who she's carrying due to the child sleeping, are escorted into the room. Agent Fornell is with them.

Both women exhibit a degree of nervousness since neither of them has really seen each other in months. Neither of them has any idea what to say.

"I can't be here." Catherine said at the sight of Travis in the interrogation room.

"We need for both of you to be patient." Tony stated. "This whole thing is going to be sorted out very soon."

The door to the interrogation room opens. Gibbs walks into the room and closes the door behind him.

"Stand up and lift your shirt." Gibbs said as he sits down.

"Excuse me?" Travis wondered in confusion.

"Your mother told me how she used to tell you and your brother apart."

"You're gravely mistaken if you think..."

"I read your report on the incident in Iraq. A couple things seemed to be a bit off in how you handled it. I was a Marine. There are some things I would've done a little differently. Some things every Marine would've done differently. It suggests to me that you don't have the degree of training that you should have. Which is very interesting for someone who graduated at the top of his class. My guess is no one actually read your report because if they did…"

"My squad was ambushed. Everyone was killed. I was alone and panicked." Travis stated. "Under the circumstances, how can anyone think straight?"

"Interesting how your report states nothing about the incident as being an ambush. An ambush would suggest organization to take out a specific target. Which means it wasn't random." Gibbs said. "I was told you're very good with your hands. You can fix anything." He takes out his sidearm. "Don't worry, this isn't loaded." Gibbs moves his hands under the table with the weapon. A couple seconds later, he begins placing pieces of the gun on top of the table in front of Travis; multiple pieces. "My weapon is broken. Fix it."

"Any Marine can easily put that weapon back together."

"You're not a Marine." Gibbs said. "Now fix it."

"I am a Marine." Travis stated. "If I can put that weapon back together…"

"If you can? Interesting wording…" He said. "A real Marine would just do it."

Travis reaches forward while keeping eye contact with Gibbs. Without even looking, he quickly puts the weapon back together and places it on the table in front of Gibbs in record time.

"You never gave me the firing pin." Travis stated.

"Very good." Gibbs said as he holds his hand up with the firing pin.

"Ooh-rah."

"But still… Stand up and lift your shirt."

"This is ridiculous."

"We can do this one of three ways. One, I can force you myself, which in your weakened beat up state would just really hurt. Two, I can get a warrant, but I'd end up going with option one before the warrant ever arrives. Or three, you can lift your shirt and make it easier on everyone." Gibbs stated. "Either way, your shirt is going to be lifted one way or another. So you might as well do it."

"I want my lawyer."

"Lift your shirt!" Gibbs demanded as he pounds his fist onto the table.

Travis slowly stands up with his crutch; almost losing his balance in the process. He unwillingly lifts his shirt on the right side to expose the scar from when his kidney was removed as a child.

"Randy…" Both Mrs. Walker and Catherine said in shock. Catherine's heart immediately beats like never before at the sight of the scar; the man she loves, Cassie's father, is alive. Both of them are speechless.

Fornell is also in shock.

"For seven months you've been playing the role of Travis. Why would you pretend to be your brother?"

"Cause everyone is better off believing I'm dead." Randy said. "It would've broke mom's heart to know that Travis was killed. She was so proud of him and all his accomplishments. She would always introduce him to everybody with such pride. Her son the Marine. Her son the baseball star. The soccer star. The list goes on." He said. "Travis was always better at everything."

"You were stuck in your brother's shadow."

"I felt like I was a disappointment to her. I just wanted mom to be proud of me too."

"That's not true." Mrs. Walker said. "I've always been proud of Randy."

"What exactly happened that night at the warehouse?"

"I asked for his help. Travis said he was going to go to the warehouse to get me out of the gang." Randy said. "I met him outside the warehouse after he snuck out of the house. We went in together to have a meeting with Jorge. We were in a room with three guys. I don't know what happened. They just attacked. Travis defended me. And the next thing I knew… The three of them were lying dead on the floor. I never saw a dead body before. I was scared. Unable to move." He continued. "Travis told me to hide. So I did." There's a brief pause. "I heard a lot of commotion and eventually gunfire. Then everything fell silent." He added to the story. "When I came out of the room I saw bodies everywhere. Then I saw Travis lying in a pool of his own blood. My brother died trying to protect me." Randy cried. "I ran home and snuck into the house because I didn't know what else to do."

"Go on…" Gibbs said.

"Eventually the police showed up at the door." Randy said. "How could I face my mother with her knowing I was the reason Travis was dead?"

"That's when you pretended to be Travis."

"It was better for mom to believe Randy was dead, than to know it was really Travis." Randy said. "In that split second when my mom looked at me, I also thought about how Cassie can benefit from me taking my brother's place." He continued. "I've never been able to keep a steady job due to my criminal record. And Travis made a nice salary with the Marine Corps. So I became my brother."

"You thought his salary would be best for Cassie."

"At first I was worried the coroner would determine the body in the morgue was Travis. But a mother's positive identification can go a long way without being second guessed or questioned. Even when her positive identification was based on my lie."

"We sometimes don't question a family member's positive identification because…"

"I thought it would be simple." Randy stated. "Take Travis' place… Have a decent amount of money to send Catherine every month… Have mom finally look at me with pride, instead of being ashamed of me… And have Travis' resume which I can use to get a job I could never get as Randy. But I had no idea Travis signed up for a third tour in Iraq."

"The FBI has been trying to prove that you were responsible for what happened in the warehouse. But they were half right. Travis was responsible. The only thing is, Travis is the one who died in the warehouse, not Randy, not you." Gibbs said. "I think your brother wanted you to have this." He takes out the St. Jude necklace from an evidence bag. "He tried to give it to you before but you didn't accept it."

Gibbs reaches forward with the necklace in hand. Randy extends his hand and watches as the necklace drops into his palm. The sight of the necklace reminds him of how much his brother loved him. For the first time, he accepts the necklace and puts it around his neck where it belongs.

"I've been in meetings since yesterday afternoon trying to figure out why you continued this charade." Gibbs stated. "Found out Ravenwood is under an unofficial investigation. The target you, Travis' squad, were to acquire in the Red Zone was a suspected financial link between the security group and terrorist. That target was found murdered two days ago. Ravenwood has been trying to tie up loose ends. But tying you up isn't as easy due to your status as a hero. There's too much attention on you. They managed to keep you quiet though."

"They figured out I wasn't who I said I was." Randy said. "I didn't know Ravenwood was responsible for the ambush until I woke up in the hospital. One of their representatives was there to interrogate me. I was so drugged up at the time I didn't realize I was basically telling him everything about what happened. I even confessed to not being Travis because all I wanted was to go home. I didn't want to spend another minute in Iraq. I didn't care what happened to me with confessing. I just wanted to go home."

"How did you know it was a representative from Ravenwood?"

"When I first woke up I was scared and grabbed the person." Randy replied. "His shirt ripped. I saw the same exact bullet proof/knife proof vest that the Iraqi's who ambushed us wore. That's when I saw the Ravenwood logo." There's a brief pause. "They threatened to expose me. Threatened my family. I had no choice but to remain quiet." He said. "And it was working. I thought I was done with Ravenwood. Then this murder investigation opened."

"Once the investigation opened, they panicked and returned to you."

"Got the usual threats. I also got the offer of their high-priced attorneys if it went to trial. Even got an offer of a college fund for Cassie if I remained quiet and stuck to the story."

"I mentioned I've been in meetings since yesterday evening." Gibbs stated. "An official investigation of Ravenwood has started."

"So how is this going to play out?"

"Impersonating an enlisted Marine is a felony. That's serious jail time." Gibbs stated. "But no criminal charges will be filed due to your heroism in Iraq." Randy sighs in relief at the news. "Your brother will be honorably discharged from the Marine Corps for his service." Randy nods acceptingly at the gesture. "Until the Ravenwood case is closed, you and your family will have a protective detail watching over you 24/7. Courtesy of Starline Defense. Every Marine on leave or off duty is volunteering with the firm in order to protect you. No one will get within five hundred feet of you and your family with a small army protecting each of you." Randy is amazed at that news; never expected it. "Your protective custody will be at a psychiatric hospital where you'll be under a false identity so you can be treated for PTSD. After everything is over and you're better, I have a job setup for you here at the Navy Yard."

"A job…?"

"The Navy can use someone of your talent to fix things. The salary will be very good. It'll be a steady job." Gibbs responded. "The Navy is looking forward to having you, Randy."

"Oh my God…" Randy tries to hold back his emotion due to the unexpectedness of such a kind gesture for who he believes doesn't deserve it.

"I have one question for you." Gibbs said, not for him but for his family to know. "You could've left on your own after the ambush. It would've been easier and you would've gotten out sooner. Probably would've gotten out of the Red Zone unharmed. Why did you stay behind spending the entire night trying to get your brother's fallen squadmates out?"

"My brother loved those guys. They were like family to him. Brothers in arms he would say." Randy said. "My brother risked his life to save mine. Gave up his life for me, a person who didn't deserve it. After the ambush..." There's a brief pause. "I watched as a group of Iraqi's dragged the bodies from the vehicle. They were taking whatever they could get their hands on. I knew if I left… those Marines would never make it back home to their families. No matter how scared I felt, I couldn't leave fallen Marines behind."

"Your brother made the ultimate sacrifice to save you. And you made the ultimate sacrifice to bring his Marines home." Gibbs said. "You won't be receiving the Silver Star you've been nominated for. There's no way you can." He takes out a blue box from his pocket. "I was awarded a Silver Star for defending a Marine in Desert Storm. There was a big firefight. A jeep was hit by an RPG. The only survivor was unable to get out. He was wounded, weak and losing blood. There was no way he could defend himself." He continued. "We were under heavy fire, spread out among bad positioning and the enemy was closing in on the jeep. I ran out from my location because I was the only one who could make it. I was the only one who had enough decent cover to do so. I did everything in my power to prevent the enemy from reaching the jeep. My actions saved that Marine. I was awarded a Silver Star for what I did that day." There's a brief pause. "Your actions in Iraq made it possible for those fallen Marines to make it back home to their families. To make it back home to be buried. You've given those families closure." He said. "You may not be a Marine... But you're a Marine in the truest sense of the word. And I'm honored to award you this Silver Star."

Gibbs stands up. He opens the blue box to expose the Silver Star inside. Then he hands it over to Randy who accepts it. Lastly, Gibbs salutes the hero sitting in front of him.

"Your brother would be proud of you." Gibbs said.

The door to the Interrogation Room opens. Randy slowly hobbles his way out into the hallway with Gibbs. He watches as Fornell and DiNozzo exit from the room next door; the Observation Room. Fornell nods and walks away as his investigation is officially closed since the FBI already had the right man all along.

"Daddy!" Cassie runs out of the room in Randy's direction. He smiles at the sight of his little girl running to him; he almost breaks into tears.

Mrs. Walker and Catherine exit from the Observation Room as young Cassie runs happily to her father. A smile stretches across both of their faces. DiNozzo starts chatting with Mrs. Walker while Catherine approaches Randy.

She can hardly believe it's true. The man she loves is alive and standing right in front of her. It's like a dream she never wants to wake up from.

"I'm sorry, Cat." He apologized to her.

Catherine slowly extends her hand and places it unto Randy's cheek. The feel of Randy being real forces her eyes to quickly fill with tears. Then she wraps her arms around him.

Mrs. Walker finally approaches. Her son's attention is drawn to her with a slight fear.

"I'm proud of you, Randy." She said. At that moment, Randy felt what it's like to have his mother look at him like he used to see her look at Travis. She also puts her arms around him.

Eventually, Randy Walker and his family are escorted outside so that they may leave the premises since the investigation is officially over. When they exit from the building, a couple dozen Marines are standing outside in a tight formation. The Marines place their hands to their foreheads; saluting the brave hero that stands in front of them.

One decorated Marine, a Commissioned Officer, steps forward and approaches the family. He stands tall in front of Randy and salutes.

"Captain Charles Glenn, United States Marine Corps." The man introduced himself. "Requesting permission to shake the hand of the bravest civilian to wear the uniform."

Randy is speechless as he nods. The Captain extends his hand. They shake hands.

"I'll be in charge of your family's security." The Captain stated. "All the Marines behind me have volunteered with Starline Defense to protect you. The majority of them knew your brother Travis. He was a good Marine." There's a brief pause as he looks to the women of the family. "You're all in good hands." He assured them.

A couple vehicles drive up. The family, the Captain and a whole bunch of Marines enter into the vehicles.

As the vehicles drive away, the remaining Marines in the Navy Yard hold their hands to their foreheads. They salute Randy Walker proudly; the bravest civilian, the legend among Marines, the hero to five families, the man who isn't a Marine but a Marine at heart.

* * *

**Author's Note:** There's one more chapter to this story. I'll try to work on it and get it posted as soon as I can.


	13. Chapter 13

***Thursday***

***Chapter 13***

A convoy of SUV's drive into the cemetery where Corporal Eckman is buried and his sister has been grieving since the funeral earlier in the week. A couple of the SUV's spread out in order to secure the cemetery.

One SUV stop in the road closest to the location of Corporal Eckman's grave. Four Marines exit from the vehicle along with Randy Walker.

The sight of Eckman's sister standing at her brother's grave saddens Randy. The only family she had left is gone. She's all alone in the world. The only thing Randy can do is give her the letter her promised to give her.

He takes a deep breath and starts hobbling his way over to the gravesite.

"Sarah Eckman…" Randy said to grab her attention. She looks to him.

"Yes?" She said as she wipes a tear from her face.

"I served with your brother in Iraq."

"I know who you are." Sarah stated. "You brought my brother home. I was able to bury Robert because of you."

"Your brother wanted me to give this to you." He extends his hand in order to give her the letter.

Sarah accepts the letter, opens it and begins to read it. Tears start to fall as she reads the heart-felt, emotional letter her beloved brother wrote for her in case he was killed. After reading the letter, she looks up. The tears have almost completely consumed her eyes.

"Are you going to be alright?" Randy asked in concern.

"I thought I wasn't…" She said. "…until I read this letter." She wipes the tears from her eyes. "Thank you." Sarah thanked him. "Thank you bringing my brother home." She steps forward and wraps her arms around Randy.

"Your welcome."

Sarah backs away a bit and looks back to her brother's grave.

"He was a good man." Randy stated. "A good Marine."

"Yeah, he was." Sarah agreed. "And a good brother."

The two of them stand at the grave paying their respects. While there, Sarah tells Randy about her brother Robert and how he took care of her after their parents died. She's very proud of him for the role he took on. Robert meant the world to her.

The DiNozzo family arrives at the Headquarters for the National Geographic Society. They enter into the lobby.

"I'm Anthony DiNozzo." Tony said. "I have an appointment with Alan Conway."

"Mr. Conway has been expecting you." The receptionist said. "Take the elevator to the second floor. Turn left. Walk down the hall. His office is on the right."

"Thank you."

Tony, Jamie and Chioke walk in the direction of the elevator.

The three of them exit unto the second floor. They walk toward the office of Alan Conway. Upon entering into the office, the secretary April approaches.

"Mr. and Mrs. DiNozzo. How nice to finally meet you." April said as she shakes their hands.

"Hi." Tony said.

"Nice to meet you too." Jamie said.

"And this must be Chioke." She smiled at the young boy. "Right this way."

April leads the family to the door of the Chairman Alan Conway. She opens the door.

"The DiNozzo family is here. Tony, Jamie and Chioke." April introduced them.

"Come in, come in." Mr. Conway said.

"Thank you for seeing us, Mr. Conway." Tony said.

"Please, sit down."

They approach the desk, shake the Chairman's hand and sit down.

"I have the screening room setup with the video footage you requested to see." Mr. Conway stated. A man enters into the room. "Ah, here's the author of the article now. I'd like you to meet…"

"That's him." The author stated at the sight of Chioke. "Oh my God. It's him." He said in disbelief. He approaches the boy. Then he looks at Tony. "After the incident, he was weak and unconscious for days. Strangers took care of him like he was their own. They didn't have the necessary equipment or medicine to properly take care of him. It was a miracle he survived. I watched him for weeks before he came down with a life-threatening infection. And one day he and his rescuer were gone. They just vanished. I searched for this boy for a year and half. Never found him. Never knew if he made it or not." There's a brief pause. "But here he is. Sitting right in front of me." He looks at Tony again. "How did he come to be here?"

"It's a long story." Tony said. "Which I really cannot disclose any information about."

"How about you take little Chioke to the lounge while I speak with his parents." Mr. Conway said.

"Go with the nice man, Chioke." Tony said. "We need to speak alone with Mr. Conway."

'Okay.' Chioke signed with his hands. He looks to the man. 'You have any toys?' The man has no idea what Chioke communicated to him.

"He wants to know if you have any toys for him to play with." Tony said.

"He knows sign language…" The author said. "Remarkable."

"April…" Mr. Conway presses the button on the phone to reach his secretary.

"Yes, Mr. Conway?"

"Go down to the gift shop and get a bunch of toys for the boy to play with."

"Right-a-way, Mr. Conway."

The author of the article and Chioke leave the room.

"I'll be frank with you Mr. and Mrs. DiNozzo. The National Geographic Society would like to do a documentary about your son. His life in America; the adjustment, his new family…"

"You mean like cameras following us around everywhere?" Tony wondered.

"Essentially… yes." Mr. Conway answered. "Our forum has received a lot of feedback on the article. People are interested in knowing what happened to the boy."

"Whoa…" Tony is surprised.

"We'd like a chance to think about this before we make a decision." Jamie said.

"Well, I'm sure you would like to see what you've come here to see." Mr. Conway said.

"Yes please." Tony said.

The three of them leave the office. Chioke watches as they walk down the hall; watches in wonderment of where they're going and what they're doing.

Inside the screening room, Tony and Jamie sit down. The lights dim. Mr. Conway presses the play button and leaves the room.

The start of the video is very wobbly; the camera is on while the man is running away from the violence in the village. There are occasional points at the start where the camera is steadied in waiting for a chance to make the move out.

Eventually, the man with the camera makes it out of the chaos and runs to a safe location. From the top of a hill behind a tree, the man points the camera back at the village. He talks about the brutal violence as the armies of the rival warlords killing each other and everyone in the village.

"Wait…" The man said as he noticed something in the camera's view. He moves the camera back to the right. "It appears a family of four is trying to escape the chaos."

"Chioke…" Tony said in worry as he watches the mother with her three children. Four year old Chioke is in the mother's arms.

The camera loses the four of them in an alley.

A man runs by the alley. He stops and backs up. A sinister smile stretches across his face. He takes aim and fires into the alley. Then he runs away to catch up with his buddies.

"With no regard for the sanctity of human life, the man fired upon the family in the alley. The lack of immoral decency exhibited by these criminals is appalling. They're killing innocent civilians at will. And nobody is around to stop it." The man stated. "So we wait to see who comes out of the alley."

The family now only consisting of three members, exits from the alley and hides behind the side of the building. The mother looks around the corner.

"It appears the girl didn't make it." The man stated. "The poor little boy was the only one who saw it happen." The family continues to move. "It must be hard for the mother to leave her daughter behind. But the family has to keep mov…" He notices the direction the family is heading; into in situation which has the strong possibility of ending in a standoff. "No, no, no… Don't go that way…" He muttered. "There's no way to warn the family from what they're about to run into."

The family turns around a building. With noticing a man taking aim in their direction, the son raises his gun and fires. The man drops to the ground. Three seconds later, the son drops to the ground with a bullet in his back. The mother quickly shoots the man who shot her son.

"The family walked into a terrible situation which cost the oldest son his life." The man said. "The boy remains motionless on the ground as his mother shakes him. She's already lost so much. So has the young boy in her arms." The mother keeps moving. "Once again, the young boy watches his dead sibling lying on the ground."

As they continue on, they reach an area where there's a small creek. Near the creek is the rubble of a collapsed building from a long time ago. The camera looks around the area trying to find any armed men in their area. It appears to be clear.

"The mother either tripped or was hit by a stray bullet." The man said as he watches the mother fall.

After rolling off a bit, the scared little boy tries to crawl back to his mother; the only safety he knows curing this ordeal. The mother waves for him to stay where he is.

"We now see blood dripping down the mother's leg. It was a stray bullet." The man said as he watches the mother limp to her son.

The mother picks up the young boy and carries him to the rubble of the collapsed building. She places him inside.

"The mother is unaware her current action of going back for the gun she dropped will put her in the middle…" The man begins to say.

She picks up the gun. A couple men enter into the vicinity and start shooting at each other; leaving the mother in the middle. She turns to face the rubble.

"Run Chioke! Run!" The mother screamed.

"The little boy frozen in fear watches in horror as his mother is shot multiple times." The man said.

"Mommy!" Chioke yelled.

"The little boy is now all alone." A minute passes. "The little boy looks out from his place of safety among the rubble… Scared whether or not armed men are still in the area… Concerned whether or not his mother is still alive. She was all he had left. He watched his family get picked off one by one until..."

The young boy walks to his dead mother, sits next to her and shakes her. But she remains motionless. The boy cries as he places his hand on his mother's head.

"Such a tragedy for someone so young…" The man said in sadness for the boy. "He becomes spooked at noticing a couple men running around. The boy knows he must flee."

The boy runs in the direction of the creek.

As Tony watches, he grabs Jamie's hand because he knows what's coming next. He's already holding the emotion in as best he can. But some tears manage to trickle their way out.

"The boy stops in the middle of the shallow creek. The creek anybody must cross in order to escape the chaos." The man stated. "All alone and no one to turn to, he takes one final look at his mother." He said. "Oh no…" The boy turns around. "Staring down the barrel of a gun leaves the young boy frozen in fear." The man said. "Don't do it. Please just walk away."

The sound of a single shot echoes through the valley. The smoke dissipates around the gun. And the young boy falls into the shallow creek.

"Oh God…" The man cried for the boy.

The water quickly devours the boy and turns red as he bleeds out. The camera zooms in as close as it can do without distortion.

Tony watches in horror as Chioke tries to yell, but chokes on the water and blood filling his throat. The panicking boy tries his best to keep the liquid out of his mouth and gasping for breath. But half of his face is submerged in the water. He's weak, losing a lot of blood and in pain. The boy is slowly dying.

"I watch helplessly as the gunman steps into the creek. It appears he's going to finish what he started." The man said. Something unexpected happens. "Instead of finishing the job, the gunman walks away. Leaving the young boy to die a slow and painful death as he gasps for breath." There's a brief pause as the camera zooms out a bit. "But wait… someone else enters into the creek. He doesn't appear to be armed. It's possible he's going to help the boy… The man lifts the dying boy into his arms. This certainly is a sight to witness. One of the villagers is risking his own life in order to save the young boy. A boy who may die either way." He said. "A single person ran to the aid of the dying boy. A single person with the decency to do the right thing. A single person with a good heart." He watches the man carry the boy out of the creek. "Among the tragedy, not all hope is lost."

The camera follows the man carrying Chioke until they vanish among the forest.

The video footage ends. The lights turn on. Both Tony and Jamie wipe the tears from their eyes. The horrific video was almost too much for either of them to bear.

"The pictures in the article were stills from this footage." Mr. Conway stated.

"Excuse me…" Tony said as he stands and hurries to the door.

The door opens. Down the hall Tony can see Chioke sitting with the author, happily playing with some toys. The sight of boy sparks his eyes to become watery. The innocence of the child is plagued by tragedy; a tragedy which claimed his family, his home, his voice and almost his life. Yet, the boy manages to maintain the innocence of his youth.

Tony slowly walks down the hall.

Chioke watches as his father approaches. A concern grows within him at the sight of the emotion in Tony's face and the water in his eyes.

'You cry?' Chioke signed.

"Yeah…" Tony said with a slight cry in his voice.

'I help you feel better.' He grabs a toy from the table and extends his hand upward, offering it to Tony. The boy smiles as he offers the toy.

Tony chuckles slightly. He accepts the toy. Then he wraps his arm around the boy.

"I love you, Chioke." He said. "You're a good kid." In that split second when Jamie joins in the hug, Tony makes a decision. He looks up at Mr. Conway while continuing to hold his son and wrapping one arm around his wife. "We'll do the documentary."

"I'll have the forms drawn up and speak to the production team." Mr. Conway stated. He motions to the author of the article, the man who also shot the video footage of the incident. "Let's give them a moment." The two of them walk away.

Mr. Conway and the author look on as the family hug of the boy continues. They can tell the two of them are good parents; Tony and Jamie exhibit a lot of love for the boy. So they know it'll be a good documentary. They know it'll be a great way to end the story of the boy who lost everything. Because there's one thing no amount of tragedy can take away… Hope.

* * *

**THE END**

This concludes the story "Every Hero has a Story". Coming soon will be the next story in this series. But until then, I hope you enjoyed this story.


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